


Keeper

by watergator



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Brotherly Love, Cute, Fluff, Gen, Turtles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-18 04:59:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 36,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5899156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When one little secret is spilled out, more secrets reveal themselves, creating one big problem for the Hamato family, but how will the littlest for the Hamato family be able to cope once its all out there...</p><p>HUMAN AU<br/>TMNT 2012 'VERSE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Epilouge

Mikey took a deep look in the mirror, not in a ‘checking himself out’ kinda way, but took in everything that he was and always would be. From every freckle to which way each hair from his curly blonde stuck out on his head. He cringed and how he once in a temper had tried to rip it all out after seeing his hair in a different way. Leo always said that his golden curly locks were like an angels and Mikey would like that, little comments that made him feel good about himself, but lately Mikey couldn’t see anything good about himself. Everything he saw on his body reminded him of… His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a soft knock on the bathroom door, which was later followed by a soft voice,  
“Mikey?” Donnie had this amazing ability to make his voice sound as if it were floating around the room, a voice that could make someone go from, murderous rampage from hell to complete chilled out heaven. The soft voice that managed to float its way from the other side of the door to where Mikey stood calmed him slightly. Donnie heard the familiar, ‘click’ of the bathroom door unlock, where he saw his only younger brother standing in front of the mirror, his face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. After all that had happened over the past few weeks, Donnie couldn’t really blame him. Mikey heard Donnie clear his throat as he stood in the doorway. Damn, even that sounded soft and gentle, Mikey thought. The freckled teens blue orbs pierced Donnie’s soft brown ones. His eyes were so comforting, which got Mikey thinking about Donnie as a person, he was his brother, his best friend, and Donnie would never want to hurt anyone. He was the peacekeeper of the family, and as Mikey stood close to him, he could practically feel the warmth he was radiating. Mikey’s thoughts were interrupted when two comforting arms wrapped themselves around the small fourteen year olds shaking frame. Mikey buried his head into his brother’s chest, where he heard the soothing, ‘lub lub’, of Donnie’s beating heart. Small tears escaped Mikey’s blue eyes, letting out a small sob, he once again heard Donnie’s calming voice, float around the bathroom,  
“It’s okay now Mikey, it’s okay”


	2. Chapter 2

The rain poured down, soaking its manic victims of New York who hurriedly made the quick escape of the warmth of their homes. As the yellow cab pulled up next to the tall building, Mikey pulled his sports bag over his shoulder, bracing himself for the shower that greeted him. He placed the dollar bills into the driver’s chubby hand. And Mikey swung the door of the taxi open, feeling a wave of coldness hit him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t wet already. He had been at soccer training this morning but after a while the pitch got flooded and their captain, ‘Leatherhead’ called practice off, they had nicknamed him for how he always had the bad luck of attracting the ball to his face, causing him to a permanent expression on his face as if were made of leather, and thus, the nickname was born. Normally Mikey would walk home or get a lift back from Leo, but when he realised that Leo would still be at work, he remembered the lunch money he had left over from the previous Friday and decided to save him the soggy walk home and catch a ride. However, as stereotypical as it sounded, trying to find a taxi in the middle of a storm in New York was a hell lot of trouble and it was out of pure luck that he found one, just before he was splashed by an oncoming bus. As Mikey walked up the concrete steps of the apartment building he could he the squelching sound of his soaked socks every time he took a step. When he got into the building, his heart sank a little when he saw that the elevator was out of order. He glared at the stairs, feeling a little determined to make all 15 stories.  
By the time Mikey had reached their apartment door he heard the distinctive mumble of Raph and Donnie on the other side. Mikey fumbled with his keys for a bit since he had his hands full of bags, and finally swung open the door. The hallway was lit up, giving off a warmth that Mikey didn’t realise he desperately needed. He dropped his bags with a thud and much like a dog, shock off any dripping water from his already drenched body. The mumbling from the other room was quiet within seconds and Mikey looked up from where he was taking off his muddy shoes to see a tall figure looming over him. Donnie was tall, compared to Mikey he was a giant, despite the fact that he was only two years older than him. He had dark brown hair and a thin face, not like unhealthy thin, but the type of tall but slim, kinda thin. He had light brown eyes and tanned skin, despite the fact that he usually preferred to lock himself away with his nose in a book or search the internet for hours on end. But Mikey guessed it was in the genes. All his brothers had tanned skin, apart from Mikey. Leo had dark black hair and deep sea blue eyes. Raph had hair a shade darker than Donnie’s and dark green eyes. Mikey on the other hand was like the random mixture that was thrown into the group of brothers. He had light skin with freckles plastered over the bridge of his nose and his cheeks and crystal blue eyes. He had golden blonde hair and was very short compared to his brothers. If he told you that he was of Asian heritage, you’d think he was having you on, but for the others, you could clearly tell that they were brothers. Mikey on the other hand was often joked about being the ‘runt’, curtesy of Raph, which Mikey didn’t seem to mind too much. His brothers were by far stronger than him, Donnie being very muscular for a sixteen year old. Raph loved working out, as it was his life purpose, he was a lot stockier compared to Donnie’s healthy looking frame. Raph was two years older than Donnie, however Donnie had long gone passed Raph in height, almost reaching 6 foot whilst Mikey stood at around 4"8. Leo was about 6 foot. He was the oldest; he was a whole ten years older than Mikey as he was twenty-four years old. The age gap didn’t seem to faze the two brothers, as all of them were closer than average brothers, especially ones that practically live and do everything together. It was a miracle that no one had killed each other yet, Mikey thought. However a hand waving over his face snapped him back into focus, 

“Hey bro you okay?” Donnie said, crouching slightly so he was at eye level with Mikey, 

“Huh?” Mikey said removing his other shoe,

“You kinda zoned out there kid” Raph said from behind the taller teen. 

“Oh sorry, jus’ thinking” Mikey said with a goofy smile, he ignored Raph’s comment, he didn’t hear it clearly but it went along the lines of, ‘you gotta have a brain for that dofus’, 

“I’m guessing that soccer practice was cancelled” Donnie said, standing up to walk into the living room. Mikey went to follow before an abrupt hand placed itself onto his shoulder, 

“Go shower, now. You’ll catch your death if you hang around in them wet clothes for longer” Donnie ordered, good old doctor Donnie, always fussing and being busy. He was as bad as Leo when it came to being mother hen, all three of them where. Leo and Donnie showed it a lot, but Raph on the other hand tried to keep his, ‘tough guy attitude’ in check, but he cared deep down. Mikey knew that under all that hard guy exterior, Raph was a big softie, especially when it came to little brothers and animals. Raph was a sucker for ‘em. Mikey looked down to see that maybe his dog shaking skills wouldn’t save him from getting ill as a pool of water had formed around his feet. Mikey so desperately hoped that he would wake up with a stuffed nose and no voice. It came with being a little guy, Mikey got sick a lot, it had never been too serious, but Mikey was always the first to get sick and the last to recover. He slugged his way to their small bathroom which had tiles that needed replacing. He switched the water on and silently prayed for the warmth when he felt the hot water wash over his freezing cold body. He only had 10 minutes of hot water, since he knew that Leo would want one soon once he came back from his job at the dojo, so Mikey mentally set a clock in his head, reminding himself not to use up all the hot water. Although being the baby of the family does have its privileges, using up all the water and having three freezing older bros, does not count as one of them. And he’d learnt that the hard way. Mikey felt the gush of the steamy water as it tricked over his small body. He heard the front door open and a smile crept onto his lips when he heard Leo’s voice from the living room. He felt so happy, as if he could live in the perfect little bubble that was his life. He had absolutely no idea how it was all about to come crashing down any time soon…


	3. Chapter 3

Mikey flopped his body onto the couch, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was around 1pm but Mikey decided that a lazy Saturday was in check, which meant lounging around in his pyjamas. Mikey looked over at the TV and started looking for the remote. The damn thing had a thing about running off and hiding, Mikey glanced up at the TV, especially when one of Raph’s wrestling shows were about to begin. The small teen rolled his eyes and continued his search before Raph could sit down and watch his dumb show. Raph was the only one that liked this garbage. Not only was it terribly boring but Leo said it went against everything a real fighter did. And real fighting wasn’t acting; Mikey knew that for sure, he’s gotten enough round house kicks in training to know that. But Mikey didn’t know what Raph loved so much about two men rolling around on the floor so much, maybe it was because Raph’s brains were in his muscles most of the time, so he could probably relate too many of the “pro-wrestlers”. When the familiar theme tune rang through the TV speakers, Raph strolled into the living room, sitting next to Mikey, turning the volume up a couple of notches, enough to make his younger brother leave the room.   
Ah brotherly love, thought Mikey as he walked into the kitchen, dragging his feet a little. He felt a little tired, a made a silent prayer that he wasn’t coming down with a cold, Mikey seemed to get them about 100 times worse than an average person. 

“Hey buddy” Leo said as he was greeted in the middle of the kitchen,   
Mikey smiled up at his older brother whilst his strong hands ruffled Mikey’s already mess of hair.   
Leo flattened it back down, before frowning. 

“You okay?” He said, feeling Mikey’s forehead, crouching down so he was at eye level. Mikey hated this; sure, he felt a little hot but a little hot meant that Leo was probably to go into full panic mode and make him stay in bed for the whole weekend. Because of a cold. 

“Yeah I’m fine, bro” Mikey said, playfully swatting Leo’s hand from his forehead, although, it did feel nice to have Leo’s cool hand against his hot skin. But he wasn’t going to give in that easily. People always thought that Raph was the stubborn one, but they were brothers after all, Mikey could be just as stubborn as Raph and he wasn’t going to get Leo all riled up over a slight temperature and a runny nose. 

“You call a high temperature and tiredness fine?” He said raising an eyebrow. See, that was the Donnie-ism coming out of him. 

“I got caught in the rain, not in a major epidemic” Mikey said, trying to laugh it off but he knew the face Leo was giving him. Maybe he wasn’t as stubborn as Raph. Although he did impress himself by using the word ‘epidemic’, there was a Donnie in everyone. 

“Okay, okay, fine, maybe I feel a little flu-ey” Mikey said, raising his hands in defeat.  
Leo smiled and shook his head. He always had a way to get his brothers to talk, he had this big brother vibe to him that they couldn’t resist, and it always worked. He handed his youngest brother two pills that he received from the ‘medical cupboard’ that was on the highest shelf so that when Mikey was younger he wouldn’t be able to reach, however now that he was fourteen, he still had trouble reaching it unless he was on his tip toes. Mikey face had a look of disgust as he swiftly swallowed the two pills with the glass of water he poured out for himself. Leo shook his head before heading out the living room where he saw a very engrossed Raph, sitting on the very edge of the couch, if he moved a millimetre forward he would be on the floor. Leo’s eyes flickered over to the screen of the TV where he saw the someone he recognised as ‘The Undertaker’ rolling around with another guy twice his size. Leo wouldn’t have the slightest clue on what was happening on the TV if Raph didn’t ramble on about it every second of the day. Leo sighed as he examined the moves the men on the TV made and Leo shook his head. He just hoped Raph stuck to ninjitsu. Leo had to pull himself from looking at the TV any longer before he’d start criticising it out loud for Raph to hear, which Leo had learned before was not a good thing. Leo couldn’t help it. He was raised by a master of ninjitsu and had known it all his life. In fact all four brothers had learned the martial arts the same way, except for Mikey, Leo had trained Mikey. That’s why Leo decided that if his life revolved around being a ninja, then he might as well get some cash whilst doing it. It wasn’t a dishonourable thing, since Leo taught many kids from all over the city, which Leo loved. Raph’s yell snapped Leo out of his little trance, when he whipped around to see his immediate younger brother edging closer to the TV yelling something about a certain move, a move that Leo had never heard before, as if the people could actually hear them. 

“Hey Raph?” Leo asked when the excitement had died down, 

“Uh huh” Raph responded not really paying attention to his older brother, his eyes fixated to every move the screen made, lighting up the room slightly, shadows dancing on the walls and ceiling, 

“Where’s Donnie?” Leo asked,   
There was a pause, before Raph responded, 

“Homework, room” Raph said, waving a hand around,   
Of course Donnie would be doing homework on a Saturday afternoon, Leo thought to himself. He was about to make his way to Donnie’s room to ask him something about school work when there was a knock at the door.   
Leo looked at the door then back at Raph,   
They weren’t expecting anyone and anybody that was stupid enough to go out in this storm was… well, stupid. Leo made his way to the door and unlocked the bolts that were slid shut. He opened the door to reveal a man with what seemed to be blonde hair but by the way it was dripping wet it looked a lot darker. He had dirty skin and muddy clothes.   
Maybe he was mugged... Leo thought, from the way the man stood there, shivering slightly, his pale grey-blue eyes, looking rather panicked, 

“Are you alr-“But before Leo could get another word in, the man shoved a huge brown wallet that seemed to be stuffed with paper into Leo’s hands. Leo stumbled, trying not to drop them but the man gave Leo a look that made Leo freeze. He didn’t know what it was about this guy. All Leo could hear was Raph’s stupid brain-washing show as the man’s eyes darted around, scanning Leo as he stood in the doorway of their home, having not the slightest clue of what was happening.   
Leo looked down at the papers and back at the man who had turned pale. 

“Excuse me but who are you exactly?” Leo asked, becoming a bit impatient with this stranger turning up, giving him tonnes of paper work and not saying a word. But the man’s eyes widened, almost like he had just realised something terrible and quickly snatched the paper back from the boy’s hands. He scooped up the faller paper with shaky hands and looked Leo dead in the eyes, 

“I thought you would have known, I’m sorry I’ve made a mistake.” and with that the man had ran off, his wet shoes squeaking against the floors. The man’s voice was gruff but it was so quiet, as if he were about to shatter into a million pieces. 

“So was it the girl scouts sellin’ cookies Leo?” Raph teased as his older brother shut the door behind him and walked into the living room. Leo went to open his mouth to explain what had happened out there, but he found himself lost for words,  
What had happened out there? Leo thought to himself, unable to explain, completely confused.

“I don’t know… some guy…” Leo said quietly rubbing the back of his neck. This caught Raph’s attention, with the commercials running on the TV, Raph sat back deep into the couch, making himself comfy before Leo plopped himself next to him.

“Just ‘some guy’?” Raph asked, confused slightly, but Leo was just as confused as Raph was, when Mikey emerged from him room, his eyes drooping slightly, a sign to Leo that he must have fallen asleep from the pills earlier, 

“When’s dinner?” Mikey asked, stretching his arms a little, 

“Ah damn!” Leo exclaimed before blushing a deep red, if anyone was on their backs about cursing, it was Leo, and to hear Leo curse was a lifetime opportunity because it didn’t happen very often, 

“Excuse my language” Leo mumbled as he held his hands in his head, 

“So what’s the problem?” Raph asked, 

“I forgot to bring any food home for tonight, I was too busy thinking about the rain…” Leo said quietly, as if he were ashamed that he had merely forgotten a few groceries for dinner.   
That’s when Mikey’s eyes lit up. Leo sighed. There was no getting out of this one,

“So I guess it’s take out tonight” Leo huffed in defeat, as Mikey dashed like lightning speed to the kitchen to get the phone and the leaflet that had the number for the pizza place. Although the thought of a warm pizza in his stomach bought a smile to the oldest brother’s lips, he still couldn’t shake off the weird feeling he had when he saw that man. Maybe he was paranoid or overreacting, Leo didn’t know but he had a terrible gut feeling that something was wrong, and a big brothers gut feeling is almost never wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

Leo put the dishes away after he finished drying them, after Raph had managed to slither his way out of doing the dishes after dinner, even though it was his turn to do them. Leo didn’t mind thought; they’d gotten pizza so there were only four plates and four cups. Besides, as weird as it sounded, Leo actually liked doing the dishes; it gave him some time to have his thoughts to himself because no one else would dare go in the kitchen whilst someone else was washing dishes in fear that they would be sucked into helping. But having his thoughts to himself wasn’t always a good thing. Leo had a tendency to get paranoid over the smallest things and all Leo could think of right now was the man at the door earlier,   
Who was he? What did he want? What did he mean? Leo thought, frowning slightly. Leo replayed the event over in his head, trying to figure out what this guy wanted.   
“I thought you’d have known” The man’s voice replayed over and over in Leo’s head, as he tried to decipher it. He didn’t recognise this guy, so should he know him? Maybe the guy had just simply gotten the wrong door. But something in the guy’s eyes told Leo otherwise. Leo snapped his head to see Donnie standing there, 

“We’re gonna watch a movie, wanna join us?” Donnie said, a smile spreading across his face. The Hamato movie nights were always a party. It usually meant bowls after bowls of popcorn and staying up till about 2am watching various movies.

“Sure thing Don” Leo smiled back, placing the dish cloth down after he finished washing up to join his brothers. 

After watching all Iron Man movies and getting half way through Guardians of the Galaxy, Mikey had fallen asleep, using Raph’s shoulder as a pillow, his mouth slightly opened as he slept soundly. Leo smiled to himself as he watched Donnie, drift in and out of a sleep, trying to stay awake, even though his eyes protested. Raph and Leo however were wide awake. Leo glanced at the clock, it was almost 1:00am. Leo nudged Raph slightly, causing the teen to tear his eyes away from the TV to notice that the two youngest brothers were either passed out or struggling to stay away.  
It was time to call it a night, Leo thought as he picked Mikey up bridal style. The freckled teen buried his head in Leo’s chest as the oldest boy carried him carefully, trying not to wake him. Leo set Mikey in his bed where he immediately snuggled into his blanket. Mikey mumbled some non-coherent words, which made Leo smile, Mikey was well known for his sleep talking. The kid talked so much that he even did it in his sleep. Leo was about to walk away when he heard the mumbling teen say one clear word. One word that broke Leo’s heart, in fact shattered it into thousands of tiny pieces, 

“Mom?”

Leo’s deep blue eyes flickered over the teen who was tossing, his face scrunched up in discomfort. Leo silently walked back to his youngest brother and carefully placed himself onto the edge of the bed.   
Quiet moans escaped Mikey’s lips and he squirmed under the pile of blankets.   
Must be having one of his crazy dreams, Leo thought, but he frowned. Had he just called out for their mother? Leo shook his head, but then a small voice spoke again, calling out the same word Leo didn’t believe the smaller boy had said. Leo soothed Mikey’s forehead, brushing his blonde locks out of his face, in order to calm him, and within seconds the pained expression on his face relaxed and Leo felt his brother sink into the pillow, falling into a peaceful sleep. Leo lightly kissed Mikey goodnight and glanced once more at his sleeping brother, a sad smile on Leo’s face was evident as he gently pulled the door over as he made his was to his own room.  
He slipped into his bed, his head hitting the pillow and looked up at the ceiling, his memories washing over him, memories of what used to be, memories of their family, their family before Mikey. And before Leo could say “bushido”, he felt his eyes get heavier as he fell into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The blossom trees swayed lightly as the wind blew gently. The sound of a Japanese Skylark could be over heard as young Leonardo sat on the porch of his small, but cosy home. He looked out at the scenery around him; the summer sky held a bright sun that was slowly starting to dip into the hilltops as night approached. 

“Leonardo, ocha no jikan” He heard a soft voice call from inside the house. Leo glanced back at the sunset one last time, as if trying to memorise it before running into to the house for his dinner. 

He was greeted by his parents, Tang Shen and Hamato Yoshi.  
Tang Shen smiled at her boy, she had deep blue eyes, which Leo also had. She had sleek black hair that looked as soft as silk and flowed like a waterfall when the wind blew. It hung beautifully at her waist. Her skin was soft and her teeth bore a smile. Leo’s father was slightly taller than Tang Shen; he had neat dark brown hair that was combed and a shaven face. The two proud parents smiles down at their six year old son as he smiled up at them. He was very much like his mother in looks, but he had the ninjitsu skill like his father. 

“Mama what is for tea?” Leo asked as he slipped his shoes off, handing them to his father, how placed them next to his own. 

“Tonight we have noodle soup my dear” Tang Shen smiled warmly, as she kneeled down onto the tatami floor, where Yoshi kneeled beside her. 

Leo quickly kneeled opposite his parents. In front of his was a warm bowl of steaming noodle soup. The chopsticks were placed neatly beside them. Leo looked up his father in anticipation. 

“Osaki ni dōzo” His father said, his strong yet rumbling voice almost lit up the table as the family of three picked up their bowls and chopsticks and began their meal. 

By the time they had all finished, Leonardo stifled a yawn,

“May I be excused, Mama, Papa?” A sleepy Leo asked, rubbing his eyes with a small fist.

“Leonardo, we must talk first my son” He heard his father say in a low voice.  
Leo’s eyes widened, he knew he had been good, so what was it they wanted to talk about? He chewed his bottom lip anxiously, 

“You aren’t in trouble my boy” Shen laughed, she knew that her son had a terrible habit of becoming paranoid, which often resulted in him chewing his lip. Leo tilted his head in confusion,

“I’m not?” He asked, his voice squeaking slightly, 

“No, in fact we have some wonderful news” Shen said as she turned her head to face Yoshi. The two adults beamed smiles at each other, confusing Leo further. Then after what had felt like forever, Tang Shen spoke up, 

“Leonardo, we are going to have a new baby in the house” She smiled from ear to ear. 

Leo’s little face lit up in excitement, forgetting himself for a moment he shot up from where he sat and jumped up in the air. 

“Leonardo, please, your manners” Yoshi reminded him, making the small boy blush a deep red before kneeling back down, 

“A real baby?!” Leo asked his eyes wide with excitement. 

Shen and Yoshi laughed at their son’s enthusiasm, 

“Yes my child, a real baby” Shen spoke up. 

Leo opened his mouth, ready to reel off everything he wanted to know; was it a boy or a girl? When would it get here? Would he be able to take the baby to school to show to his friends? But his father’s voice spoke up, making him hold his tongue. 

“It is getting late, go to bed and awake early in the morning for school. All questions will be answered in good time” Yoshi spoke, smiling happily at his son. 

Leonardo kissed his parents goodnight before retiring to the comfort of his bed where he would dream about the joys of being a soon-to-be older brother.

 

When Raphael was born, Leo was practically bouncing off the walls, begging to hold him every five minutes. The baby was big for a new-born but Leonardo only being four years old and being very excitable, meant that his parents would wait for him to calm down before making sure it was safe to let the young child hold the baby. However, whenever Leo held Raph, he would hold him close to his chest and rock him slightly. Shen knew that when people were born, they have certain purposes, for instance, she knew that she was born to be a mother, very much like how Leo was born to be a big brother. Whenever Leo held the newest addition to the family, he was calm and serious. He almost became a second mother. He would shush anyone that spoke above a whisper when Raph was sleeping and would be by Raph’s side, making sure he didn’t hurt himself. Shen saw the brotherly bond between the two boys. Her family was beautiful and she couldn’t wait for it to grow even bigger. And she knew that Leo would want that too, the bigger the better.


	6. Chapter 6

Donatello awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs, smiled slightly before opening his heavy eyelids. He glanced at the space shuttle clock that sat on his bedside table, which read that it was 10:00am. Sunday’s were Donnie’s favourite days. Mostly because he allowed himself to relax from doing any school work and this usually meant doing more work that he would busy himself with for the rest of the day. The tall teen sat up in his bed and stretched out his lanky limbs before hopping out. His bare feet brushed against the soft carpet, welcoming them with warmth and he left his warm shelter of blankets. He stumbled into the kitchen where the smell of bacon and eggs hit him, greeting him almost. He looked down at his seat on the breakfast bar to see two eggs and four strips of bacon in the shape of a smiley face. Next to his breakfast was his usual beverage of coffee. He smiled slightly,   
'Mikey', he thought. His younger brother knew how to dish up breakfast, and anything for that. The kid had a natural talent for cooking and baking, unlike anyone else in the family, as Mikey was a “culinary expert” as to quote. Then just as Donnie took his first sip of the black caffeinated drink, the small freckled teen came bounding in. 

“Mornin’ Don” Mikey smiled up at his big brother by two years,

“Morning Mike” Donnie said, his voice still scratchy from just waking up.

Donnie ate his breakfast, taking in the flavour and wondered how the hell Mikey was able to make eggs taste this good.   
Then a sleepy Raph joined the already two teens at the bar, and he began shovelling down his food, as if he were scared it would disappear somehow. 

“Whefes Phweo?” Raph asked his mouth like a washing machine of food, some spilling out, not so gracefully. 

“Leo,” Mikey started out, pronouncing the words clearly in a way to wind the hot head up, 

“Is in his room, meditating” The small boy continued. Raph grunted which Mikey translated as some sort of thanks.

Leo had been up since the butt crack of dawn; since Leo found some sort of tranquillity at getting up   
at some unholy hour to spend his morning meditating and Mikey would normally get up a while after him to fix everyone up breakfast. It was always a tie on who would get up first with Raph and Donnie, it usually depended on whether either of them actually went to sleep, since Raph would spend nights out with his friends or texting his official unofficial girlfriend Mona, and Donnie on the other hand would tell himself, that one more chapter would hurt, until he realised it was time to get up anyway. But Mikey never understood meditating. He didn’t know if it was because of his ADHD or because it just was incredibly boring but he could never sit still for that long, and besides, Mikey could think of hundreds of other ways to relax, even if Leo wouldn’t approve. But Mikey had retreated to the lounge area to watch some cartoons as his own “relaxation” method. Mikey flopped onto the couch and picked up the remote only to be interrupted by the piercing ring of the telephone. After it rang for a couple of seconds, Mikey rolled his eyes and picked it up, as none of his brothers were going to. He pressed the button and put it to his ear, 

“Hello?” He said, one hand on the phone and the other trying to turn the TV on. 

“Hello who is this?” The guy on the other line said with a gruff voice.  
Mikey frowned,   
He’s the guy that phoned us, the confused teen smiled to himself at the silly comment, 

“This is Michelangelo speaking, the cute one” He joked, but the line went silent.   
Mikey held the phone away from his ear to see if the line had been cut but it was still connected, 

“Hey you still there?” Mikey asked, putting the TV remote down and putting the phone back to his ear,

“Huh? Oh yeah… Sorry, um… I need to speak with, um…” The man stuttered, tripping over his words in some blind panic,   
Mikey decided to make it easier for him, 

“Well who’s it gonna be bro?” Mikey asked playfully, he knew not to be rude but the guy was really falling around with his words. It was like listening to Donnie to try and talk to a girl.   
There was a pause before he spoke up again, 

“I need to talk to Leonardo.” He said, rather than asked in a heavy tone. Mikey frowned again, slightly confused, and slightly appalled by the lack of manors, Mikey couldn't think of a time where he had ever forgotten his 'pleases' and 'thank-yous', 

“Well Leo’s kinda busy right now, cant it wa-“But before Mikey could finish off his sentence he was cut off abruptly, 

“Its urgent” The man on the other line said, practically spitting his words down the phone, something that Mikey didn’t like. Then it hit him. He’s been having this conversation with this random dude and he had no idea who he was talking too or why. For all Mikey knew it could be some fraud master mind or some creepy old man. 

“I didn’t quite catch your name, Mr…” Mikey trailed off, hoping to get an answer but instead it was followed by a sigh.   
Gee, this guy sure wasn’t a talkative or friendly fella… Mikey mused,

“Just tell Leonardo to call me back as soon as possible on this line” The man said, he sounded impatient and annoyed. Mikey felt kinda bad by the time they had hung up. Maybe it was important, sure the guy was rude, but surely Leo could have taken a 2 minute break to take a call? Right? Mikey chewed his bottom lip. He didn’t like the sound of that guy. He just hoped Leo wasn’t in any trouble with him. Then just then Leo walked in, sitting next to his youngest brother, 

“Hey I heard the phone ring, who called?” Leo asked with a smile. 

Leo wasn’t expecting a call… Mikey though, chewing his lip slightly. He had a way of picking up bad vibes on people and that dude on the phone was practically radiating with them. And it had only been a two minute phone call. But Mikey knew that jumping to conclusions was a bad idea. 

“Some, random dude, didn’t give me his name but…” Mikey hesitated, not really wanting to finish his sentence; he had a terrible gut feeling about it. But he couldn’t lie to Leo’s face. It could have just been the landlord wanting money. That made Mikey’s stomach sink lower. When he realised that he’d been hesitating for too long he looked back at Leo and opened his mouth, 

“But it could have been one of them cold callers or whatever” Mikey said, waving it off, turning his attention to anything else but Leo. He had just lied to his brothers face because of some freaky feeling… 

“Oh...Right, cool” Leo said quietly, examining his brother as he fumbled around with the remote before turning the TV on. 

Mikey wasn’t the only one that could pick up on weird vibes. Leo frowned before heading out to the bathroom; quickly picking up the phone on his way out, Mikey was too engrossed in the cartoons that were lighting up the screen, his normally happy face smiling again, to see Leo swiftly exit the room.

Leo locked the door and perched on the edge of the bathtub. He quickly hit the redial button to call the last number registered on the phone. Leo put the phone in one hand to his ear and felt his leg bouncing up and down out of nerves.   
Why was Mikey acting so weird about a phone call? Leo thought as the phone rang out. Then all of a sudden a low voice on the other side spoke, 

“Leonardo” The man said.

Leo racked his brain to try and recognise who the voice belonged to. 

“Hey, who’s this?” Leo said, in a harsher tone than he intended. This guy must have scared him enough for Mikey to lie to Leo about him. 

“He must be fifteen by now huh?” The man said, his gruff voice had a cocky tone to it, something Leo didn't like,

“What?” Leo said, taken aback, slightly confused,

“Michelangelo. He must be about fifteen now” The man repeated,

Leo felt sick. He didn’t recognise the voice and he’d obviously said or done something to Mikey to make his act that way. 

“Is this some sort of sick joke? Did Raph put you up to this?” Leo growled into the phone, feeling the need to protect his brother. How would a creepy sounding guy known Mikey?  
There was no answer but a half-hearted chuckle. 

“Raphael’s getting bigger now isn’t he?” The mysterious man on the line said, almost sinister, in some sort of scarily tone.   
Leo swallowed hard, trying not to lose his temper. Some sick creep was talking about the appearances of his brothers yet he wouldn’t reveal who he was. Like some sort of stalker. 

“Don’t call here ever again. And if you dare come by where we live, th-“But Leo was cut off by a crack of a laugh which sent a shiver down the eldest boy’s spine. He shuffled his feet, his socks making his feet slide across the bathroom tiled floor. 

“But I already have” He said simply as if it was simple.   
Leo’s grip on the phone tightened, and if the phone had a pulse, the way Leo was gripping it, it wouldn’t have one for long. 

“You’re sick” Leo spat, his anger levels rising. When it came to his family he was ready to risk everything to keep them safe, even though it meant letting his blood get boiled. 

There was silence for a while. All that could be heard was the heavy breathing down the phone.   
Leo had his brows tightly knitted together, as he waited for some pathetic answer this loser was going to attempt to give out. Because Leo didn’t just kick butt in the ninjitsu area. He could totally ‘roast’ someone, as Mikey had once put it, when it came to it.  
But nothing could prepare Leo for what he heard in the next second. It made his blood run cold and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. 

“Jus’ wanted to apologise for turnin’ up the other day unexpectedly” And with that the line went dead, leaving a buzzing in Leo’s ear. 

This was the guy from yesterday. The guy with the paperwork. He knew their names. He knew that Mikey was turning fifteen soon. He knew that Raph had been working out. He knew their phone number. He knew their address. Oh god. He knew where they lived. Leo hung his head in his hands, standing up from where he sat and walked around the small bathroom, trying to collect his thoughts that seemed to be running wild. His brain speeding at a million miles a minute about what had just happened. Trying to think of something… anything. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door followed by a small voice, 

“Leo?”


	7. Chapter 7

When Leo opened the bathroom door; Leo could have sworn that Mikey was about 6 years old again. The freckled teen stood looking at his feet, his toes wriggling around like small chubby snakes; he also was chewing his lip.   
A bad habit, Leo thought.   
Leo leaned up against the doorframe waiting for the sheepish Michelangelo in front of him to speak up.   
Mikey sucked in a harsh breath and squeezed his eyes shut, Leo knew what he was doing, it was his coping mechanism when he confessed to something. 

“I told a lie” Mikey said, his eyes still shut, as if he were trying to forget it all from his head altogether. 

Leo just nodded as Mikey opened one eye to see his big brother’s reaction. Leo decided not to say anything just to see where this would go.   
Leo nodded again for Mikey to continue, 

“Well, you see… There was a guy on the phone earlier… but… and I know it sounds stupid but…” Mikey hesitated, 

Leo straighten up, suddenly wanting to know if that creep had actually said anything to his baby brother, 

“But what Mikey?” Leo said softly smiling at his confused brother, he was expecting a lecture not a comforting smile, 

“But I got some weird vibes from this dude” Mikey said, sounding more like himself,   
Before Leo could speak Mikey opened his mouth again, 

“I lied to you about him asking for you because he sounded like trouble Leo and I don’t know, I guess he just frightened me a little bit” Mikey said, his big pleading eyes staring into Leo’s own. Leo smiled a small smile. Mikey was never afraid to say he was scared, unlike Raph. Mikey would wake up crying from nightmares and play out the ‘baby brother is sad and scared’ card out whenever he wanted hugs or a big brother sleepover. Leo guessed that himself, Raph and Donnie never really liked to admit to being scared was because it came with being an older brother. You could never show weakness.

Mikey was now chewing his lip again, as if he were lost in thought when Leo crouched down so he was eye level with him. 

“I forgive you Mike, just don’t do that again, okay?” Leo said, putting his hand to Mikey’s freckled cheek. 

“Sure thing bro” Mikey said grinning.   
Then as Leo stood up Mikey spoke up again, 

“So who was it?” He asked, as Leo walked out from the bathroom doorway and into the lounge area.  
Leo froze and quickly tried to think of something to say, it was hardly a good idea to tell Mikey that it was some creepy stalker guy who knew who they were and where they lived. 

“Cold caller” Leo said calmly, shrugging it off as he didn’t care, but Leo knew that deep down he defiantly did care and that he needed to sort this out as soon as possible. 

“Oh” Mikey said smiling, relieved, 

“Guess my ‘freaky vibe detector’ must be acting a little too crazy” Mikey joked as he jumped up onto the couch, pulling out his phone, 

“Yeah” Leo said, smiling, he had managed to throw Mikey off but there was still a huge problem at hand. Then as Leo’s mind wandered elsewhere Raphael came in from the kitchen where he’d been washing up. He hadn’t gotten out of it this time. 

“Ya texting your giiiiiirlfriend?” Raph smirked, nudging Mikey in the ribs with his elbow as he sat next to him.  
Mikey’s face flushed a deep red and frowned, pulling his phone to his chest, 

“Dude, gross, Renet is NOT my girlfriend, she’s my best friend!” Mikey said, waving his arms in the air dramatically. 

“Yeah sure, whatever you say man” Raph said raising an eyebrow, ready to wind his little brother up.   
Leo rolled his eyes. Whenever the subject of Renet came up Mikey would become very defensive and annoyed. Mikey had known Renet since they were about 8 years old. They were in the same classes at school and since then they’ve been the best of friends. She would come over for pizza at least a once a week and they would go out bowling or watch a movie together after school. It wasn’t until one evening when it was just Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey that the smallest boy made a remark about how Renet was his ‘type’ and that he liked her smile, that they started teasing him about being Renet’s boyfriend. But Renet was pretty. She had long blonde wavy hair that came half way down her back. She had light brown eyes and the funniest laugh that was contagious. She was a mathematical genius and totally crazy. This was probably why the two were best friends, the crazy part at least. Leo was the least likely to tease Mikey about the whole situation, although Leo couldn’t help but agree that Mikey defiantly had some sort of crush.   
And Leo was sure that Renet returned the feelings, in secret of course. 

“Aw Mikey, it’s perfectly normal for a boy your age to be experiencing these feelings” Leo smiled, making Mikey sink deeper into his seat, his face red hot burning in pure embarrassment, burring his face into a cushion, 

“It’s perfectly normal to have feelings for certain, girls, or guys” Leo smiled, trying to wind his baby brother up. Leo may be the over protective big brother but he knew how to have fun. He did live with three other boys after all. 

“Phuff upf” A muffled sound came from behind the cushion making Leo and Raph giggle.

“And it’s totally normal to have, special dreams about these girls okay?” Raph said, in a mocking voice.   
Mikey immediately emerged from the cushion; his face glowing red. 

“GROSS SHUT UP YOU GUYS” He yelled, his voice cracking slightly. By now Raph and Leo were rolling around on the couch, suppressing any bursts of laughter, trying not to humiliate their brother any more, even though it was failing miserably for poor Michelangelo.   
Mikey leaped from the couch and threw the cushion right square in Raph’s face, startling him from his laughing fit.   
Mikey rolled his eyes, watching his bro’s fall about of laughter of his embarrassment.   
Ah brothers! Mikey thought as he walked back towards his room… Where he could text Renet in peace. 

A few hours passed with nothing really happening in the Hamato household. The atmosphere was chill for a Sunday afternoon. Raph was in his room, the occasional grunt Leo could hear implicated that he was working out. Donnie had wondered into the lounge area for a while but then retreated back to his room to work on his extra credit. Not that he needed it. Leo knew that if anyone in this family was going to go to college, it would be Donnie. Not implying that his brothers were stupid, they were intelligent… in other things. Leo had no idea what went through his brainy brother’s brain but he knew that it never stopped working. The teen would always busy himself. He wasn’t the ‘relaxed’ type. And Mikey was…  
What is Mikey doing?” Leo thought. His younger brother would normally challenge himself to get on Raph’s last nerve and then watch TV or complain how they weren’t ordering any pizza’s anytime soon. But Leo hadn’t heard from the smaller teen since lunch that was a few hours ago.  
Comic books, Leo smiled to himself. If Mikey hadn’t been heard of for few hours he normally had his nose in a comic book, absolutely engrossed. It was the only thing that truly captured his full attention. And Leo was thankful for that. Mikey’s ADHD would drive everyone up the wall and it wasn’t easy for Leo to try and keep him entertained. TV didn’t even work. Mikey would soon find staring at a screen a bore after a while and he’d become fidgety and he’d be exploding with energy. Sure, the kid was happy but it wasn’t all sunshine and smiles. Leo found himself at teacher’s offices about how Mikey was failing classes, which is when it was first mentioned that he may have ADHD. Leo loved his brother nonetheless. But once Mikey opened a comic book, he could sit still for hours on end. It helped him sleep, help him concentrate at school, it did more wonders than any medication did. It was Leo’s blessing.   
Leo smiled as he stared at the TV not really paying attention to what he was watching. Trying to push the creepy guy out of his mind, but it was stuck right at the front, like a bad dream early in the morning. It was fresh and it stung. And Leo didn’t like that.   
Just then Mikey emerged from his room, stretching a little from where he’d been curled up on his bed for a few hours, reading his latest Spider-Man comic.   
Mikey walked into the lounge area to see Leo, staring blankly at the screen as the colours reflected off his smooth skin, almost as if the light was dancing around the room.   
Mikey smiled as he watched his big brother, completely lost in thought,   
Probably paranoid ‘bout something, Mikey shook his head as he walked towards him.   
Leo jumped when he saw the shadow in the corner move towards him, only to see it was Mikey. 

“Hey bro you okay?” Leo said, trying to fizzle out any thoughts, he didn’t want to worry his brother and Mikey could read anyone. Leo was basically an open book, reading Leo was child’s play for Mikey. 

“Yeah, I’m bored” Mikey huffed as he curled up next to Leo. 

“What do you wanna do?” Leo said, both their attention was still on the TV but they both knew they were listening to each other.   
There was a pause. 

“Wait here” Mikey said, biting his lip as he bounced up and ran back to his room.   
Within seconds the blonde boy returned in front of Leo, holding a large book. Leo recognised it instantly and a warm smile crept onto his lips.   
It was their family photo album.   
Before Mikey had been born.   
Mikey’s eyes shone, almost as if they were stars in a galaxy, then in an almost whisper, as if his voice was too fragile to speak any lounder, Mikey spoke, 

“Tell me about them Leo”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so since this chapter is pretty short and I'm close to 300 reads on this fanfiction, I thought I would bless you all with a double upload in one day, so I'm gonna give you guys two chapters in one day:)   
> Thanks for all the reads, comments, bookmarks, kudos and support, I appreciate it so much, enjoy!

By the time Donnie was born, their little Japanese home was starting to become crowded. Donnie had been given Raph’s small old room and so he’d moved into Leo’s room. The rooms were small. Both thy boy’s beds were pushed together, making one big bed. Shen and Yoshi had repainted Raph’s red room to a purple colour, much to Raph’s dismay. 

Raph lay away at night, looking up at the ceiling. There wasn’t the familiar crack that Raph saw in his own ceiling. This ceiling had no cracks. Raph wondered if Donnie could see the crack and if he even cared about it. Raph twisted; Leo was fast asleep, curled up in a foetal position, a content smile on his lips.   
The small lamp that stood on the table next to where Leo lay, reflected off the walls, a blue glow slightly illuminating the room. The door was opened slightly at an angle. Raph wrinkled his nose. Perfect Leo. Of course. And now the baby. This wasn’t his room. It was all wrong. He’d rather share a room with the baby rather than with Leo. The four year old sighed as he turned his body again. This time facing the wall. Even the walls were perfect. Raph had drawn on his walls. But that was all gone because his parents had decided to paint his room a stupid purple colour. That was a girl’s colour anyways. Raph smiled at the thought of his new baby brother in girly clothes and long hair. A quiet giggle escaped his lips, trying not to wake Leo. The Raph thought of Leo wearing a dress and his hair in pigtails. Raph slapped a chubby hand over his mouth to stop himself from bursting full of laughter. When he felt he had calmed down he relaxed his hand and stared back up at the perfect ceiling. It was just a simple crack that he had. It wasn’t special but it was always there and now it wasn’t. Raph frowned trying to think. Then he smiled. That crack in the ceiling now belonged to the baby. Maybe he would enjoy staring at it when he couldn’t sleep. It was the least he could do for his new born baby brother.

Leo rolled over in his sleep, facing his brother. Raph looked at his brother. He was so peaceful, like he wasn’t even bothered that there was a new baby. Raph guessed that Leo was used to it, being an older brother and all. But it was all so new to Raphael. He had no idea on how to be a big brother. He had to hand it to Leo, for he was a good big brother. He was responsible and caring and understating, and they were pretty big traits for someone who was only eight years old. Raph closed his eyes, trying to forget the stress of being a big brother. Raph felt his eyelids get heavier and his body seemed to be floating into a peaceful sleep. Raph just hoped that he only would be a big brother once. 

 

Leaving Japan was like some sort of nightmare to Leo. He’d lived there his whole life and now all of a sudden they were leaving. But he understood, he daren’t talk back to his parents, unlike Raph sometimes. His parents were right, the house was getting crowded, Donnie was turning three soon, Raph had just turned six and Leo was ten years old. He had to be a big boy and deal with it. No tears.   
But actually leaving his village, his school, his friends, and his home. It proved otherwise. Leo had told Donnie that he was crying happy tears, but Raph teased him nonetheless.   
But something felt off. The move felt too sudden. Mother and Father hadn’t announced it like some wonderful big news. It was simply stated whilst eating dinner one evening, in a tone that made it seem like no big deal. This was why Leo felt saddened. Maybe they’d lied about having no space in their home, maybe it was because of something else. But Leo knew better to ask questions that he knew he had no right to ask. He just wished that he could stay a little longer. At least for Donnie and Raph’s sake. They’d hardly gotten the full experience of Japan. Father had mentioned that they would try and come back for their vacation. But there was no promise of coming back for good. Leo knew that when he was all grown up and had left Mother and Father to live his own life. He’d come back. This was his home, he’d known nothing else. And now they were moving far away, somewhere that seemed too different, somewhere so foreign to him, but Leo was clever, he could adapt. And wherever his family where, Leo was right by them. Always.


	9. Chapter 9

Donnie wandered into the kitchen to grab a glass of water to take to bed with him. Everyone had gone to bed, or so he thought. Leo was sat on the couch, holding some sort of object in his hands; Donnie tried to squint through the darkness that seemed to be blanketing his from seeing anything. 

“Leo?” He whispered out to him,

Donnie saw his older brother’s figure turn his head to face him, his dark blue eyes meeting his brown ones. 

“You going to bed?” Leo asked, stretching, 

“Yeah, was just gettin a drink” Donnie mumbled, starting to feel the effects of working all weekend. 

“Right” Leo said, turning his head, looking back to the object that Donnie couldn’t figure out was.

Donnie stood their awkwardly before shuffling his feet, the fluffy carpet tickling him between his toes gave off an odd type of comfort. 

“What you got there?” Donnie asked curiously, 

Donnie could make out that a smile had formed on his brothers face, 

“The photo album” He said quietly, almost like he was sad, but he didn’t show it much. 

Donnie stepped forward without really thinking, his curiosity getting the better of him, but he held back for some reason. 

Leo could sense that Donnie was hovering around the open doorway, so he patted the seat next time him, welcoming him over and surely the gangly teenager came walking over to where Leo sat.  
Now that he was closer, he could see that the photo album was an old one. Donnie’s heart fluttered. It was the photo album of them and their parents. The last pictures of their family as a whole. Donnie felt his heart do a somersault. Because he was wrong, their family wasn’t complete in these photos. Mikey wasn’t in them. He mentally kicked himself for even think that. But he did miss them. It wasn’t a lie. 

“Guessing Mikey wanted to have another look huh?” Donnie spoke, not realising how wobbly and pathetic his voice sounded.  
Leo seemed like he was on another planet before realising that Donnie was talking to him. 

“Yeah” he smiled half-heartedly. 

Leo carefully opened the first page, handling the book so carefully that if it was made of glass. The first page held a picture. Just one large one that was neatly stuck there. The picture was of Leo, Donnie, Raph, Shen and Yoshi. It was about a year after Donnie was born. They were standing in front of their home in Japan, the blossom trees in the background made it seem like it was some sort of fake backdrop for some cheesy family photo, but both brothers knew it was real. The sky was a warm blue; Shen was holding a baby Donnie in her arms, resting the small infant on her hips as her beautiful smile glowed. Next to her was Yoshi, he was standing tall, his arm around Shen and one hand on Leo’s shoulder who stood in front of him. Leo had his hands behind his back, standing straight just like his father. His smile was showing his gleaming white teeth.  
Leo fingered the page and he smiled at the memory.  
Raph was standing next to Leo, just in front of their mother. He was smiling too. He looked happy. They all did.  
Donnie practically absorbed the picture, thinking that if he looked at it hard enough he could go back to there. Back to Japan. Back with their parents. Back to a simpler, happier time. 

“It was so good back then” Donnie mustered up a whisper, still not taking his focused brown eyes on the page. 

“I know” Leo whispered back, his voice sounding fragile. 

“I wish it could of stayed that way” Donnie sighed, he quickly realised what he said, 

“Well, it wouldn’t be the same without Mikey of course” Donnie awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hands, 

“I know what you mean bro” Leo smiled, his eyes reaching Donnie’s. 

The two brothers spent the next hour, flicking through the pages of their two years of living in Japan. The only words spoken were cooing over baby pictures or huffs of laughter when the occasional picture of Raph dressed up in ridiculous outfits would show up. But it was mostly silence. Just the two of them sat in the dimly lit room, Mikey was sleeping and Raph was in his room, calling his girlfriend, but for the two brothers it seemed like the rest of the world was shut off as they carefully flicked through the pages, pictures of them, pictures of their parents, pictures of their home, pictures of the village and the ducks that they would feed every Sunday. The world seemed to slow down as they took in these pictures. Leo had flicked through the book already with Mikey earlier but he felt like it was all new to him, refreshing the memories in his head. 

When they had reached the end of the book, they were unaware of the time, 

“Oh shell Donnie, you have school, its 11pm already” Leo stood up as Donnie rubbed his tired eyes, 

“Yeah, better go to bed” Donnie smiled to his older brother. 

“Nigh bro” Leo smiled warmly and Donnie retreated to his room, 

“Night bro” Donnie smiled back.

Leo was about to head back to his room to put the book away before he was stopped by a sudden voice, 

“Hey Leo?” Donnie called out, not haven moved from where he stood last, 

“Yeah” Leo replied,  


“Who was the person who took the first picture of us?” Donnie asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.  


Leo was taken aback at the random question, his heart picking up speed slightly.

He saw the confused look on Donnie’s face, before flashing him a quick smile,

“No idea bro, probably just a villager” and with that Donnie nodded, smiled back and made way to his room.

But as his brother walked away Leo felt his smile drop and his stomach along with it, for he did remember the person was like venom in his blood.

Chris Bradford.


	10. Chapter 10

Mikey trudged through the halls of his school, his backpack carelessly slung over one shoulder. The sleeves of his one-size-too-big orange hoodie had flopped over his hands, keeping them snug from the October weather. 

As the teen made his way to maths he could already feel the headache that the lesson was going to cause, Maths defiantly wasn’t his strong point but now that he was a freshman, it wasn’t getting any easier. He reached his classroom and slipped in, only to find he wasn’t as late as he thought since the teacher wasn’t even there. See, after hectic morning of waking up late, Leo breaking the toaster and hot water cutting off just as Mikey had started shampooing, Mikey knew that his day was gonna suck, it was Monday after all. But it seemed that luck was on his side since his Maths teacher seemed to be running late as well. 

Mikey noticed Renet sitting at the back of the class, a spare desk next to her, Mikey smiled and felt his heart warm a little.   
The girl hadn’t noticed her best friend had entered the classroom because her head was down and she had one of the Maths books open. Working.   
Mikey huffed loudly to get her attention as he sat down, letting his backpack fall with a thud.   
Renet’s head shot up, startled by the sudden appearance. 

“Guessing that’s not last minute homework” Mikey teased, raising an eyebrow, 

“Michelangelo” Renet replied crossing her arms,

“The one and only” Mikey said, flashing her a toothy grin, winking, 

“You’re 15 minutes late you know?” She said in a bossy tone, picking up her pen, 

“Pshh” Mikey blew a raspberry, flapping his hand, 

“It’s cool girl, the teachers not even here yet” He said in a cocky tone, pointing a hand to the teachers desk, 

Renet smiled in one of her ‘you’re-totally-gonna-get-it’ smiles, which kinda caught Mikey off guard slightly, 

“Why you lookin’ like that Renet?” Mikey squeaked, 

“You see my darling friend, you’re correct. The teacher is most defiantly not here, however the substitute teacher, is out looking for you since you haven’t turned up till now” She grinned

Mikey’s cocky smile seemed to be smacked off his freckled face.

“Wha-“ but before the teen could finish his word, the door swung open to reveal a very angry looking teacher.

And that was when Michelangelo Hamato burst into flames.

Mr Jacobson was the type of guy who took time keeping veeeeery seriously, and being one minute late was enough to scare you. But poor, innocent Mikey had been 15 minutes late. And he’s forgotten his homework. That was enough to put him in detention for life.   
Mr Jacobson was the least-coolest sub ever. Seriously.   
Mikey felt himself sink into his seat, praying that it would open up some portal to another dimension, anywhere away from the wrath he was about to feel. 

After a five minute ‘talk’, and talk meant spitting fury rage mode, outside the classroom about why being on time was important, Mikey felt about five years old. He’d just gotten Mr Jacobson to calm down, which was about Raph level of moderately angry, the substitute made the mistake of asking for the homework, which didn’t go down too well when Mikey mentioned that he didn’t in fact have it. This led to another five minute screaming rage of why homework was so important. So overall, Mikey missed about 25 minutes of that Maths lesson which was a plus. But also was a bummer because Mr Jacobson had spat his eye about 40 times and he also had a detention after school on Wednesday. The freckled teen deicide that the Maths lessons would have been better. Stupid shower.   
By the time Mr Jacobson had managed to stop himself from having some sort of heart attack, Mikey only had about five minutes left of the lesson, which he just copied Renet’s work. Not that she was too happy about it though.

The next few lessons were a blur to Mikey, not paying attention, like a zombie on auto pilot he would sit next to Renet, at the back of the classroom where the teacher’s draining voice would vibrate off the walls, enough to give anyone a headache.   
By when the bell rang for Lunch, Mikey felt himself perk up, feeling a little more enthusiastic.   
Mikey slugged his backpack over his one shoulder; he hopped from one foot to the other as he waited for Renet to pack her things away. It was like she was taking her time on purpose. 

“Hey wanna let me starve any longer” Mikey asked as she zipped up her own backpack. 

Renet tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. 

“Knowing you, not having a snack between meals would be considered starving” Renet laughed as the two of the friends left the classroom and made their way to the cafeteria. 

It wasn’t until they had reached the cafeteria that Renet let out a gasp 

“Damn. Forgot to give Mr Samuels his book back” She said, frowning, 

“Wanna head back?” Mikey said, pulling his backpack strap to stop it from slipping off his shoulders, 

“No its okay, I’ll catch up with you later” Renet smiled as she turned on her heel and headed back to their English classroom. 

Mikey went to take a step forward to take his place in the lunch line but his face came in full contact with someone’s back. Someone’s hard back, should he mention.   
Mikey rubbed his head, looked up to see he was looking into the face of. 

Hun.

Great.

Hun stood at about 7”2; he had white-blonde hair and was bad news. He was a muscular guy. He had dull blue eyes and a scar on his left check. The tattoo on his right arm was a dead giveaway that he was part of the notorious Purple Dragons Gang. This guy was tough. And no one messed with him. And Mikey had just slammed into him. 

“Uhh… Sorry” Mikey smiled sheepishly, hoping that Hun would leave him be, they were in the middle of the cafeteria after all and Hun would be crazy to hurt him here. 

“Watch it creep” Hun spat in his thick Brooklyn accent,

“Sure” Mikey said in a low tone, trying to bury the words of something along the lines of 'high school movie cliché', 

Mikey prayed that the spit in his face was all he was gonna get from Hun, but it turned that the tall teen had more to say,

“You’re Raphael’s brother, aint ya?” He asked raising an eyebrow, still looking just as threatening.

Mikey gulped. He had no idea if Raph had any trouble with this guy and wondered if it was a good idea just to keep his mouth shut. But the look Hun was giving him made him think otherwise.

“Yeah” He blurted out, instantly regretting it.

Hun smiled a grimace, which made Mikey shrink a little. The lunch line mover forward but Mikey wanted to go anywhere but closer to this giant crazy man.

“Of course you’re a Hamato” He smirked,  
Mikey guessed that was defiantly not a compliment. 

Mikey flushed a red colour, he felt his skin burning, 

“You’re a loser” Hun said, his tone quiet enough for just the two of them to hear, which made it 10 times more scarier.

Mikey tried to look away but Hun’s eyes were staring directly at him, Mikey was sure that he hadn’t blinked once since he’d bumped into him.   
Hun could tell that Mikey was obviously trying to avoid this situation, which made Hun want to start a fight even more. Even on some kid who was half his height and half his age.  
Mikey considered leaving the lunch line to go find Renet, but he didn’t want Hun to follow him to somewhere where they were alone and able to get himself pounded into the ground.  
Also, Mikey was hungry and there was no way some Purple Dragon punk was gonna make him miss his lunch. 

Mikey stood his ground, hoping that Hun had enough sense in his pea sized brain not to kill him in front of everyone in full sight.

“Disgusting” Hun smirked, this time forming a spit ball and spitting directly into Mikey’s blonde locks. Hun laughed to himself as Mikey stood there, mortified, his stomach doing backflips at the thought of Hun’s saliva in his precious golden hair. Then as if it weren’t already bad enough, he hadn’t noticed the small crowd of people behind him that had witnessed the whole thing, howling with laughter, making snide comments loud enough for the teen to hear.

Mikey felt his eyes burn, a warning that he was about to burst into tears any seconds. He didn’t even think, he pushed past the people, running, lunch long forgotten, he felt the tears spill. He was headed to the boy’s bathroom when for the second time today he smacked into someone. Mikey didn’t even care; he couldn’t let anyone see him cry like this over some bully. He went to run off again before he felt a firm hand place itself of his shoulder. His heart leaped into his throat from the sudden contact. He whipped around to see he was looking at his older brother, Raph.

Even though Raph should of finished High School well over 2 years ago, him failing all his biology exams, much to his humiliation of having a younger brother who was a whiz at science and was well ahead of Raph in that subject and had to actually tutor him in order for him to actually finish school. But after a load of complaining and fights, Raph had just accepted the fact that it would be a good idea to let Donnie tutor him. After all, he did wanna get out of there as soon as possible.  
He hadn’t seen his brother since the two of them and Donnie had walked to school today. 

Mikey used the sleeve of his oversized hoodie to wipe his miserable tears that were threatening to spill once more. 

“You okay bro?” Raph asked, his tone was soft and caring.   
Mikey nodded, not wanting to use his voice, afraid it would make him seem more pathetic than he already was.

“Is that…” Raph said, frowning as he delicately fingered Mikey’s hair,  
“Spit in your hair?” He finished is sentence, this time his tone was more harsh and abrupt.

Mikey nodded again.  
And just like that, Raph snapped, like a switch had been turned on, fuelling his rage.

Raph’s dangerous green eyes met Mikey’s watery blue ones,   
Raph leaned in closer, his face inches away from his brothers, his had still slightly squeezing Mikey’s shoulder.

“Tell me who did this.” Raph said slowly, almost intimidating his brother, not to scare him, but to get him to tell, Raph knew that Mikey wasn’t a fan of fights, so he knew he’d have to use full power to get him to spill the truth.

Mikey stood there for a while, biting his lip, he then looked down at his feet and then back up at Raph.  
Then in a wobbly tone that threatened to break any second, Mikey spoke, in an almost whisper, 

“Hun”. 

And with that Raph was like a bloodhound, on the scent of its prey,  
Mikey knew there was no stopping him and he certainly didn’t want to follow him to that fight. Hun may care about getting an earful from the teachers about fights in the cafeteria, but when it came to family, Raph didn’t give a damn.

Mikey slowly went to the bathroom to wash his hair. He smiled slightly, sniffing. He was lucky to have such awesome brothers. He thought about Raph beating the ever living hell out of Hun and that made Mikey feel warm inside. Not the fact that Hun would be bloody and bruised, but the fact that they cared enough to do something about it, even if it meant they could get in trouble for it. That was what family was all about after all. Taking risks to protect the ones you love. And Mikey knew he was fortunate to have that with three older bros. 

As Mikey splashed water on top of his head, letting beads of water drip down through his hair and onto his face, he thought about how his day could only get better from here on out.

Little did he know that when he got home, it was just going to get worse.


	11. Chapter 11

Monday mornings were always a blur for Leo, it was an early morning with three teenagers rushing around, looking for books and the occasional yell for the missing sock.   
It was either making lunch or trying to fish out money for them to buy their own lunch. There was always the grumble of not wanting to go to school, mostly from Mikey and the curse words after forgetting homework, which was almost always Raph. Donnie would be so slow compared to the high speed that Leo was going at. That was until the tall teen had his morning intake of coffee, much to Leo’s disapproval. There was always the conversation that tea was much healthier and the usual reply was always a tired mumble, something about needing coffee to survive mornings such as these ones. 

Once everyone was out the door, the collective yells of, “See ya” and “Have a good day at school” would be called out and then as soon as the familiar click of the front door, Leo knew that he could relax. His mornings were pretty chilled out after that. Since Leo taught children, he worked after school hours on weekdays whereas he would work around lunch times on a weekend. 

Leo let his body fall onto the couch, letting out a huff of air as a sign of exhaustion. He turned his head to see that the missing sock that Mikey couldn’t find to save his life, the one the youngest brother had sworn had been eaten by the sock-eating monster, was poking out behind one of the cushions. Leo breathed out a laugh as he picked it up and decided to put with all the other odd socks in the drawers in his room. 

Mikey’s room was the smallest; it came with being the youngest. It wasn’t like the other bedrooms in the apartment were much bigger. Leo had the master bedroom, which was only was about two square meters bigger than Mikey’s.   
Mikey’s room was a typical teenage room, well, apart from the kitten calendar that hung loosely on the back of the door. The walls were papered with movie posters; they varied from horror films and cheesy B-rated movies. There were shelves that were littered with tiny plastic action figures, brightly coloured and different sizes; Leo wouldn’t be able to identify them if he tried.   
The bed which he slept in up against the wall was a mess of blankets and two pillows.   
The desk that stood opposite of the bed was probably the only clear and mess free space in this tornado of a room.  
On the desk there was a small pot containing different pencils, paintbrushes and pens, all of various colours. The middle of the desk was a huge A3 black covered sketch book. 

Mikey loved art. The huge imagination that he had gave him plus points for having an artistic view point in life. It wasn’t just a hobby for the kid, he was good at it. In that book contained amazingly detailed pieces of art, there were portrays of his family, landscapes from the New York skyline, and pieces of art he’d simply created in his head, all due to his wonderful creative imagination. Something that came naturally to him, it required no practice, like Leo’s ninjitsu, no studying, like Donnie’s schoolwork and no training, like Raph’s boxing. It was simply something he was born with, something that he could wake up to and if he wanted to do it he could. Like a breeze. 

Next to the sketch book was a not-so-neat pile of comics that were stacked dangerously high, threatening to fall any moment.   
The small wardrobe that was tucked away in the opposing corner of the room at the foot of his bed had drawers attached at the bottom. Leo quickly put the sock back where it belong and left the room. 

Leo walked back into the living room. The small apartment was clean, tidy and neat, just how Leo liked it. Leo smiled to himself.   
Today he was going to head to the dojo. Some practice would help pass the time. 

Leo swiped the car keys to his Volkswagen Vento from the kitchen side and made his way downtown to the dojo. They lived in the centre of Woodside, which was a nice neighbourhood. Their apartment was about a 10 minute drive to the dojo, which Leo didn’t mind.   
The dojo would be empty this early in the morning, the time was about 9:30am and the classes here didn’t start until 10:00 so Leo had a little time to practice some katas.

What Leo didn’t expect was to see the lights already on in the dojo. Leo frowned and twisted the keys that opened the door.  
There was a man standing in the middle of the dojo, his back to Leo, his arms behind his back whilst he admired the detailed Japanese paintings that were painted across the walls.  
Leo moved slowly, trying to figure who this guy was and why he was here and how did he get in.  
Leo cleared his throat, trying to catch the strangers’ attention.

The man turned his head too look at Leo. 

The oldest Hamato boy’s eyes went wide, his pupils dilating to the point where they were almost invisible, being swallowed up by his deep sea blue iris.  
The man stretched a grin, Leo’s mouth open agape slightly,

“Hello Leonardo, remember me?” The man spoke with a familiar tone, the same voice who had stood at his doorstop, the same voice that sent shivers down his spine when they spoke on the phone, that distinctive gruff voice. But now he was seeing him, looking at him with his dusty brown-blonde hair, and it all came back. It didn’t make sense, that was for sure but it sent a million thoughts rushing through his head. The man simply smiled a grin that Leo desperately wanted to knock off. 

Leo was able to muster up enough strength from trying not to scream, but he bit his tongue, enough for him to speak, in almost mono tone, if it wasn’t the absolute anger that was crippling him right now.

“Bradford.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I don't normally do notes at the end of my chapters but I wanted to take the time to say thank you who has read the story so far, left kudos or comments or even bookmarked it! It means a lot to me and I appreciate it a lot since I get a lot of my motivation from feedback and encouragement :) So this chapter is a little short, I apologise, but the plot line is going to get crazy from here on out so prepare yourselves;) And I wanted to let you know that if you didn't know already, I post each chapter EVERY FRIDAY - so once again thank you all for the support, I felt like I hadn't really said much as a writer on here, but yeah, that's pretty much it, thanks again and much love, have a great weekend!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I know that I usually post a chapter each week every Friday but since this chapter is a little shorter than the others and the fact that I noticed that my fanfiction got over 400 reads (and that I'm in a good mood) I though I'd give you guys this chapter five days early because I love you;) So don't forget to leave kudos and comments!! Much love guys, have a good week !!

Mikey glanced back at his phone to check the time for what felt the millionth time, Yep. It was 4:00pm. School had finished about 20 minutes ago and Leo had pinkie promised to pick him up today. It had been on and off raining for the past few weeks but since around after lunch time, it was pouring down.  
Mikey shivered from the inside of his windbreaker, snuggling into it, hoping for extra warmth, except he defiantly would prefer to be in the warmth of his home. Donnie had some science club and Raph had given Mona a ride home, which meant some major big bro-little bro quality time. Although he was starting to get the impression that he was totally forgotten about. Which was a huge bummer and Leo owed him big time.

The small teen huffed as he began to walk down the steps of the school, out of the shelter that was protecting him from the hammering rain,   
His jacket hood didn’t do much in keeping him dry, but he knew he would be much worse without it.  
Mikey didn’t even make it off school ground when a sudden realisation came to mind.

What if Raph told Leo about the incident with Hun earlier on? He hadn’t seen Raph since then, so it could be possible that Raph had called him. 

Mikey pulled at the sleeves of his windbreaker, his fingers numb from the cold harsh wind and rain.   
Maybe Leo was mad at him and decided to leave him to make his own way home. Downtrodden, Mikey made the cold, long walk home.

By the time Mikey had reached the front door to the apartment, he was soaked to the bone; his coat did little effort to keep him dry. He knew that his already bad case of the sniffles was about to amplify by about ten times. He swiped the door handle, stumbling into the apartment hallway where he peeled the drenched coat from his shivering frame and threw it up onto the coat rack. His hoodie and jeans were damp but his feet had managed to be drowning in rain water. He slipped of his sneakers, and took off his wet socks, for his cold feet to be greeted by the warmth of the fluffy carpet.

Mikey wandered into the kitchen, it was dimply lit, and Leo was sitting at the breakfast bar, his head in his hands, paperwork scattered all over the place. 

“Hey Leo” Mikey said his voice starting to burn, as he dumped his bag onto the side, landing with a thud and a squelch, a sign that anything in there was now also wet, 

Leo spun around so fast that Mikey thought it was a miracle that he didn’t fall off his chair,  
Leo’s face fall,

“Oh Mikey, buddy, I’m so-“ He began, his hand running through his black hair. But Mikey laughed, interrupting him, 

“Don’t worry about it bro, it’s cool, I see you’re busy with some paperwork anyways, what is it? Bills?” Mikey smiled, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge to sooth his burning throat.   
Leo looked bewildered for a second before snapping back into reality again,

“Huh? Oh yeah… This… yeah just, some… Bills. Yeah” He said, sounding tired as he spun the stool back around, 

Mikey frowned as his brother shuffled through some papers, he wandered into his room, biting his lip.

Note to self: Figure out what’s bothering Leo.


	13. Chapter 13

“What do you want, what are you doing here?” Leo practically spat from the other end of the dojo, seeing him here made him feel sick. 

“I wanted to talk” Bradford said sternly, as if Leo was some sort of kid. Leo scowled. 

“If this is about what I think it’s about, I don’t want to know” Leo hissed, his patience beginning to waver.  
But Bradford simply chuckled, sending an icy cold shiver down Leo’s spine.

“Oh Leonardo, it’s so much more than that” He said with a smirk, raising an eyebrow. Leo fought every urge to walk up to him and punch him straight in the nose; the smug bastard deserved it after all.  
Leo shook his head in anger not wanting to waste any breath on this guy, hoping he would get the message and leave,

“How long has it been Leo?” Bradford asked calmly, almost as if they were friends. 

“You know how long” Leo said through gritted teeth, 

“Last time I saw you was back in Japan, no?” His lips curling into a twisted smirk.  
Leo simply nodded his head. 

“You moved to New York with such big plans, shame” Bradford said mockingly, practically asking to have his teeth knocked out.

“Get out” Leo spat, his eyes not even meeting Bradford’s, an angry expression plastered onto his face.  
Bradford laughed again,

“With all jokes aside boy, I do have some business we need to take care of” He said, this time in a more serious tone.  
Leo’s eyes finally met his gray ones. His sly voice, slithered over the dojo walls, meeting Leo’s ears with a cold welcome,

“You see, it’s about something very personal to me”.

 

By the time Donnie got home Raph was sprawled out on the sofa and Mikey had just gotten out of yet another warm shower.  
Leo however hadn’t moved from the kitchen bar, staring blankly at the sea of paper.

“What’s up with him?” Donnie whispered to Mikey, who was ruffling his mop of blonde hair with a towel, 

“Dunno, he forgot to pick me up from school today, he looks major stressed out. It’s gotta be something big” Mikey half whispered back,   
Donnie hummed and nodded his head,

“Maybe I can help him out” The taller teen smiled, making his way to the kitchen.   
Leo must have not heard his brother come in because once he had noticed that his brainy brother was now sitting next to him, he almost jumped out of his skin.

“Woah Leo it’s just me” Donnie laughed, elbowing his brother in the ribs.

Leo quickly scooped up the paperwork,

“Didn’t hear ya come in bro, how was school?” He asked, but it didn’t really sound like he cared,

Donnie frowned, watching his brother neatly stack the huge amounts of paperwork, then clutching them to his chest.

“Need some intellectual help with those bills bro?” Donnie teased,

Leo flashed him a weak smile,

“No its okay, I have a bit of a headache. I’m gonna lie down for a bit” He said quietly as he slipped out of the kitchen, paperwork still held tightly to his chest. 

Donnie mulled over his brothers words, 

“Sure thing Leo, we’ll wake you up for dinner later” he smiled sympathetically. 

Leo looked over his shoulder to nod to his brother, but Donnie couldn’t help but feel like something was defiantly off. He’d never forget to pick up Mikey. Leo never forgot, especially when it came down to family. And now he was going to bed early? There was something going on and he needed to find out what it was, because that’s what he was supposed to do. Fix things. Right?

Donnie huffed and let his head fall into his hands, trying to figure it out, bills wouldn’t stress Leo out that much. They’d had money problems in the past, but if Leo was having some sort of trouble financially then he would call some sort of family meeting about what they could afford and what they couldn’t. It always had been like that, excepting that they wouldn’t have certain things, and the clothes from The Salvation Army and various charity shops weren’t so bad. They were raised to be grateful for what they had and that’s why Leo held these “money-meetings” as Raph had once put it. So the idea that Leo was fussing over some bills seemed silly to Donatello. Maybe some trouble with the dojo. He really hoped it wasn’t. Leo practically breathed ninjitsu and the dojo was one way to have an income and keep his brother sane. But once again it didn’t seem plausible. Leo was very open about things, so whatever he was hiding must be some huge secret. 

“So did ya figure it out already Mr Brainiac?” Mikey said, walking into the dimly lit kitchen sitting in Leo’s abandoned seat.

Donnie looked up and ran a hand through his own hair,

“Sadly no” He sighed, 

Mikey’s face pulled into a frown,

“What’s eatin’ at him do you think?” The blonde asked tilting his head, 

Donnie shrugged, still lost in thought, 

“Hope it’s nothing serious” Mikey said quietly, but this time it was more to himself than it was too Donnie.

“What are you guys, hermits?” A loud voice from the doorway spoke, as a light suddenly bounced off the walls. 

Both younger brothers spun on their seats to see Raphael standing in the doorway, his red t-shirt pulling up as he stretched his arms and let out a yawn. 

“Where’s Leo?” He asked, as he sloppily sat down next to Donnie.

“He went to bed, he had a headache” Donnie said, shooting a worried glance at him, which luckily Mikey seemed to miss. 

“Right” Raph said quietly, nodding. 

Something was defiantly wrong. 

 

Raph stayed away most of the night, tossing and turning. Too many thoughts to manage, Raph wondered if this is what Mikey’s ADHD felt like constantly. He breathed and lay on his back, hoping to find something to distract him from his worrying. He smiled when he found the crack in his ceiling, the same one that had been there since they’d moved in all those years ago. But he was still worried about Leo. Something was bothering him and nobody liked that. Leo hadn’t been that distant, since, well, since Dad left. He’d been so lost and that’s what he was like now. Lost, confused. Raph was just grateful that his brother wasn’t becoming neglectful, to himself that was. There was no way in burning hell that Leo would ever consider neglecting his brothers. He was too much of a sap to do that. But Donnie wasn’t sure either. And it worried them to see Leo like this again. So distant and out of it, they didn’t want that again.  
Raph often wondered if Leo ever thought about their dad. He wondered if Leo still has dreams about him, still had nightmares about him. Raph wondered if Leo really was okay. Leo is their rock, without them their family life would be one slushy mess.   
He turns his side to see his brothers’ bed on the other side of the room, his long limbs hanging off the bed, his mouth open slightly, just enough to see the small gap in his teeth.

Raph smiled to himself, praying that his little family wouldn’t become one slushy mess anytime soon. After all they had been through, it was just getting good.


	14. Chapter 14

Mikey bounded into the living room, seeing Leo watching the TV, expect he wasn’t really watching TV, he was staring at it. It had been like this the last few days. He was so distant and so zoned out. Evident bags were forming around his eyes. He just seemed tired. Mikey had never seen him like that before, and in some weird way, he didn’t like it.  
Nonetheless, Mikey let his body drop onto the couch right next to Leo, who seemed slightly startled.

“How is my favourite bro?” Mikey asked, nudging him in the ribs, just to get a response. Anything,

“Hey Mikester” Leo said, tired eyes glancing from the TV to him,

“I’m bored” Mikey pouted,  
It was a school day but Mikey’s cold seemed to erupted into a full blown flu, which earned his a few days off from school, although he was starting to feel better.

“Sorry champ, you gotta sit tight whilst you recover” Leo said, fingering Mikey’s blonde locks.  
Now this was more like Leo. Affectionate.

Mikey closed his eyes as Leo played with his hair; he loved it when he did this.  
It reminded him of a long time ago when they lived back in the old rundown buildings, back in the cold. Mikey didn’t remember much of that life but he remembered snuggling up to Leo, trying to keep warm whilst his big brother would play with his hair until he fell asleep.  
Mikey felt his eyelids get heavy and due to the warmth that Leo was offering to his cold body, Mikey began to give into the much needed sleep.

~~~

“Cold!” Mikey yelled, as he shook his sleeping brother. Leo awoke to see his four year old brother, angry expression on his chubby freckled face,

“Am cold” He repeated, placing a small hand on Leo’s face. The fourteen year flinched, swatting his baby brother’s hand away from him cheek as he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles to wake himself up. 

“C’mere” Leo mumbled, gesturing for his brother to come sit in his lap.  
Mikey gladly accepted the offer, climbing into his big brothers lap.  
The smaller child nuzzled into his brother, his head burying into his chest in an attempt to warm up. 

Leo looked around the alleyway in which they were sleeping in, the sky was still dark but had an orange hue to it, indicating that it was sunrise, around 6:00am. The cold air bit his skin as he shifted slightly, trying not to disturb his sleepy brother. His back felt sore against the brick wall which he was slumped against.  
He felt Donnie’s head fall onto his shoulder and he smiled. He managed to turn his head to see Raph sleeping next to where Mikey was before, arms crossed and lost in sleep.  
His hot headed brother began to stir in his sleep, and once he realised that the little warmth Mikey was giving off before, was gone, he shifted next to Leo, squeezing next to him like a flock of penguins, desperate to stay warm in the crisp winter air. He felt his three younger brothers squirm to get close to him in their hazy sleep. 

Leo let his head rest on the brick wall, letting Donnie and Raph lean their head in the crook of his neck, searching for extra warmth. And as much as the moment was nice, Leo couldn’t help but feel sad. He found himself playing with Mike’s hair between his fingers. It shouldn’t be like this, living on the streets, having to snuggle to simply survive. 

“Don’t worry guys” Leo whispered,

“I’m gonna figure this out” Leo smiled, hope filing him with determination.  
And in all honesty, he wasn’t sure if he was talking to his sound brothers, or if he was simply saying out loud to reassure himself.  
However that wasn’t going to stop him for trying to make a better life for his family. He wasn’t going to stop until he did figure it out. 

Mikey didn’t mind living on the streets all the time. Sure, it was cold during the winter and there were days where they would have to go without food. But since they’d met Mr. Murikami, eating had been a lot less of a stress, which pleased Mikey. He couldn’t believe he had even lived before he had tried Murikami-san’s pizza gyoza’s. But sleeping outside still bothered him a little. He was only four. He didn’t understand big grown up stuff, like where their parents where. Stuff that Leo and maybe Raph understood. Mikey had asked questions before, it’s what annoying little brothers did, but he would always get the reply of, ‘you’re just too young to understand Mikey’. 

It wasn’t that Mikey didn’t love his brothers; it was just that he would of like some parents too. But he remembered what Leo had said about asking questions, so he never asked. He guessed it was some grown up stuff. And as much as he wanted to get as big as Leo and get strong like Raph, part of him really wished he wouldn’t become all grown up because he saw how much this grown up stuff hurt Leo. He didn’t like that, seeing Leo sad. Mikey didn’t want to be sad. He didn’t want to grow up if that’s what it meant. Maybe 

Leo grew up too fast. 

Leo didn’t go to school. He taught Raph and Donnie schoolwork when they couldn’t go school. Leo went to look for food. Leo looked after them when they were sick and even when they weren’t sick. Leo would go without food to feed Mikey and his brother’s. Leo got angry when Raph stormed off and he would look, oh so happy when he would return unscathed. Mikey didn’t know what a dad was. But he was sure it was someone like Leonardo.  
But he didn’t like seeing his strong brother upset. It broke his small four year old heart. If he could have one wish, it wasn’t for the bike he saw in the shop window, it wasn’t for chocolates or milkshakes. It was that his brothers would be happy for once. Then he knew that everything would be okay. 

~~

Mikey awoke to find he couldn’t see. The room was pitch black and he felt the soft material of a blanket curled up in his grip. He sat up, immediately regretting it, clutching his head in attempt to stop it from spinning. He squinted trying to see where he was. He must have fallen asleep. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up. He blinked to find he wasn’t in his room. Neither was he in the lounge. He wasn’t even in his apartment.  
He recognised the small organised living room with its yellow walls.

The room suddenly exploded with light, making Mikey cringe, his eyes not fully adjusting yet.

“Oh sorry hun” A soft voice from the other side of the room spoke,

Mikey cracked open his eyes to see April standing there, her red hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a t-shirt and baggy pyjama bottoms.  
Why was he sleeping at the O’Neil’s house?

“What am I doing here?” Mikey asked, rubbing his eyes,

The older teen smiled,

“Leo had to take care of some business, so I guess it’s like a sleepover huh?” He shrugged, her hair falling over her shoulder.

“Are Raph and Don here too?” He asked groggily, sniffing,

April’s blue eyes went wide for a second before smiling again, twisting fallen strands of hair between her fingers,

“Raph’s at Mona’s and Donnie is with a friend from school” She said quickly, 

Mikey scoffed,

“Leo let Raph sleepover at Mona’s house without having a heart attack”

April giggled,

“He was pretty much against it at first but he was cool after about a five minute screaming match” She shook her head, smiling still.

“Well, you better rest kiddo” She said, moving towards the door,

Mikey snuggled back into the blanket,

“Night April” He managed to say between a yawn, closing his eyes,

“Night Mikey” April said, as the lights went out, the door creaking slightly as April pulled it so it was ajar.

But Mikey turned over, staring at the ceiling. His eyes tracing over a small crack as he frowned. 

Something was defiantly going on. And his brothers were keeping him in the dark about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so here it is! Thank you for all the kudos, the reads, comments and bookmarks, they're all very much appreciated:) So leave some feedback in the comments or whatever since it really motivates me to write this story:) Thanks again and have a good weekend guys, much love!!  
> (oh a just a side note, the next chapter is going to be preeeetty big;) so I will be uploading next week as per usual)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is ! So this chapter is the beginning of the main story arc so things are gonna get pretty wild from here on out;)  
> Also - there is a Rape Mention in this chapter - so if that is triggering or somewhat uncomfortable for you, here is your warning:)  
> Thank you all for all the support and don't forget to leave kudos or comments to help me out since they are hugely appreciated:)  
> Have a great weekend you guys and much love !!

Raph sat on the couch, his facial expression showing nothing but anger and impatience. He looked to where Mikey had been sleeping just over an hour away, until Leo had shipped him off to April’s. 

Fearless had mentioned some sort of family meeting which obviously didn’t include his youngest brother. He listened to Donnie who was out in the kitchen, the sound of a spoon repetitively hitting the side of the mug as he made some sort of herbal tea, Leo had told him to have one ready for him once he’d come back from dropping Mikey off at April’s. 

Raph huffed as the tall teen emerged from the small kitchen, a nervous smile evident on his face.

“You got any idea what this is about?” Raph grunted impatiently.

Donnie shook his head, his mind racing about a million miles an hour. His brother had been acting strange this last few days and he just hoped that this family meeting was the answer. But some part of him didn’t want to. The fear of what was making Leo like that. Whatever it was couldn’t be good news, especially if Mikey wasn’t even allowed to be in the apartment with them. This wasn’t bills or money. This was something huge, something explosive, yet the brainy teen had absolutely idea what it could be, and that scared him enough. 

After what felt like hours of an awkward silence, the front door clicked, an indication that their brother was home. 

“Finally” Raph frowned as Leo walked into where they were sitting. 

Leo didn’t even react.

“How was Mikey?” Donnie asked, ignoring Raph’s eye rolls and faces.

“The kid was still sleeping when I dropped him off” Leo said, looking down at the floor as he leaned on the door frame.

“I’m guessing this is something serious then” Raph said, sarcasm in his ton as he spoke.

Leo wandered to the wooden chair that had been placed next to the silent TV, opposite his brothers.

“What is it Leo?” Donnie asked, leaning in.

Leo sucked in a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
Raph moaned impatiently,

“Okay” Leo began,

“So I’m guessing you guys don’t remember Chris Bradford much?” He said, raising an eyebrow,

Both boys looked like they were trying desperate to remember,

“Just a little” Raph said, sounding more interested, whilst Donnie simply shook his head,

Leo nodded, 

“Well, he was a friends of dad’s” Leo said, seeing Raph’s shoulders tense slightly,

“He worked with him back in Japan. He would come over and we would go on small vacations with him, way before you guys were born” Leo said, his brothers silent, all ears.

It was like a lightbulb had gone off in Raph’s head,

“Oh yeah I remember him, the tall guy” He said, nodding at the memory,

“Right, Donnie you probably wouldn’t remember, you were just a baby” Leo smiled at Donnie who nodded back.

Leo continued,  
“Well, he worked in dad’s dojo. He was a family friend, right up until we left Japan” Leo said sternly, 

“Why are ya telling us this Leo?” Raph said, crossing his arms, 

“Quiet Raph, let they guy finish” Donnie said frowning at his immediate older brother before turning to Leo, a sign for him to continue.

“When we left Japan we never saw Bradford after that. And I remember having no contact with him at least a month before too” Leo said, folding his hands in his lap,

The two boys nodded,

“I remember dad telling me that we were no longer allowed to talk to Bradford. But he was like an uncle to us. Dad told me it was all over business”

“Yeah, you said that was the reason why we left Japan in the first place, it was because Bradford had destroyed the dojo, putting dad outta business” Raph frowned, waving his hands in the air. 

“Exactly, we left Japan because we couldn’t afford it” Leo clapped his hands together, leaning back in his chair,

“So what’s the deal Leo?” Donnie piped up, a puzzled look on his face,

“Well that’s not all the trouble Bradford had with us” Leo said, his face darkening, 

Leo ran a hand through his hair and puffed out his cheeks,

“See Bradford, well, he was somewhat of a ladies man. And that made him a little cocky” Leo said shaking his head, 

“He used to spend days at our house, playing games and sparring with dad” He said, growing quieter,

“He fell in love with mom” He spoke, softly, his eyes glistening as they flickered between Donnie and Raph , their mouths agape.

There was a short silence,  
“But mom never fell in love with him” Leo spoke, a sad expression plastered on his face.

“So what Leo, moms go-“Raph spoke softly but his older brother held out a hand to stop him,

“He confessed his feelings to her. But she rejected him.” Leo said, Donnie swore that Leo’s eyes were getting shades darker as his brother continued to talk.

Leo drew a shaky breath, before Raph placed a comforting hand on his knee. The older sibling smiled gratefully. 

“One night, when dad was at the dojo teaching late night lessons” He said slowly, looking at the ground,

“He came into our house” he continued, his breath hitched slightly, he swallowed, 

“Bradford begged and begged for them to run away together” Leo said, almost angry now, 

“But she said no” He spoke, his watery eyes glistening, 

There was a thick silence, waiting for Leo to continue, both brothers on the edge of their seats, like a child listening to a bed time story, their rapt attention on their big brother,

Leo looked away, blinking a single tear before quickly using his sleeve to wipe it away.  
There were no words, but Raph found his hand on Leo’s knee again, giving it a sympathetic squeeze before the two brothers gave weak, wobbly smiles at each other.

Leo took a deep breath looked at his brothers, their faces full of confusion.

“Chris Bradford raped our mother that night” Leo said, completely breaking the silence.

Donnie slapped a hand over his mouth, a muffled ‘oh god’ was heard.  
Raph just sat there. That wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. His face was stern, his grip on Leo’s knee hadn’t gotten any tighter, then he spoke,

“Tell me where the bastard is” His tone was low, his emerald green eyes growing dark,

“He’s here in New York but-“ Leo started, huffing out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. 

Raph’s expression didn’t change, but he sprung up from where he was sitting, making the shocked Donnie flinch,

“Raph” Leo started, standing up on wobbly legs,

“Don’t stop me Leo, I’ll kill him” Raph said, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white,

“Raph” Leo said, more authority in his tone, putting his hand gently on his shaking brother,

“That’s not all” He said, hanging his head, closing his eyes.

Raph’s eyes went wide, practically dreading the next words that came from his brother mouth.  
And as soon as they did, his world came crashing down. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, getting louder and faster. But not loud enough to block out what his brother was saying. He felt a uncomfortable knot form in his stomach, a lump form in his throat, restricting any controlled breathing as the words repeated themselves in his pounding mess of a head, like a broken record, just four words, four painful words that were enough to make his strong heart stop beating, enough to make him want to break down and scream and punch and cry, four simple words.

 

“Bradford is Mikey’s father”.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey:)  
> So I'm going away for the week - so from Monday to Friday I wont have my laptop or be at home - and since I wont be getting back home until late Friday, I thought I would save myself from tiredly editing and posting this chapter and just give it you all now:)  
> So enjoy!  
> Once again, kudos and comments are really helpful and I appreciate them so, so much since they really motivate me :)  
> So thank you and have a good week,  
> Much love !!
> 
> (Also P.S sorry for the delay on Sacrifice - I was supposed to write up and post the next chapter, which means I owe you all two chapters, but I have been super busy this weekend and if I have time I'll try and write them up and post them tonight but no promises sorry - but thank you for all the support on there too!)

“Took you long enough” Mikey laughed, leaning onto the couch armchair as Donnie let himself into April’s apartment,

“How you feeling bro?” Donnie smiled, rustling his blonde locks, 

“Way better” The teen smiled, flopping back into the soft cushions, 

“Cool, where’s April?” Donnie asked, looking around for some sign on the teen girl,

“You just missed her bro, she left to go get some groceries” He said, flapping his arm, 

“And I’m guessing Kirby is still at his science convention” Donnie said, dropping himself into the space next to his brother. 

Mikey hummed in response, all his attention on the flickering TV.  
Donnie found himself staring at the TV, but not really watching it. Just like Leo had been doing, his brain miles away.  
He took a glance at his half-brother. It felt so weird, calling him that, maybe biologically it was correct but it certainly didn’t feel emotionally right. 

“So are we going home or what?” Mikey asked his gaze now on Donnie.

The older teen felt himself chewing the inside of his cheek. They had to go home; Mikey had to find out one day. Donnie had to face it all back home, but somehow the idea of hiding in April’s apartment seemed much more comfortable,

“Well, we gotta wait for April first, thank her for looking after you last night” He quickly smiled, turning his attention to the TV again. He just wasn’t in the mood for chit chat right now.  
“So what’s your big secret?” Mikey wriggled an eyebrow, poking his skinny brother in the ribs,

“What secret?!” Donnie stammered, feeling his face burn a shade of red,

“Well, I spent the night at April’s because of a ‘family meeting’ which like, never happens dude, so it’s gotta be one huge secret and I know that you are terrible at keeping them” 

This was true, if anyone was the world’s worst at keeping secrets it was Donatello Hamato. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut when he had some top secret information. But this time it was different. He would do anything to stop Mikey from knowing this secret. But he knew that eventually he would have to be told and that broke Donnie’s heart the most.  
Donnie blew a raspberry, 

“Nothing important, something only highly trained ninjas can know” He smirked, hoping that covering it up with some playful banter would put Mikey straight off the scent. Not that the poor kid had the slightest clue anyways.

Mikey smiled, going along with the joke,

“Well, it is a certain blonde haired blue eyed angels birthday soon” He blinked innocently, his face plastered with a Cheshire cat like grin,

Donnie smiled but he felt like complete utter crap. 

He thought that they were planning his birthday.  
None of them even thought about his birthday, it was a month away and they hadn’t even planned anything. And now this Bradford situation on top was surely enough to give Donnie a double heart attack. Stress was one thing he could not handle. 

The two teens watched cartoons for at least half an hour before April came through the door, clutching towers of bags of groceries, balancing them carefully. Both Mikey and Donnie hopped up to help her as they made their way to the kitchenette.

“So when did you get here Donnie?” April asked as they’d set the bags down, tucking a loose strand of long red hair behind her ears,

“’Bout an hour ago” He shrugged,

“Right” Her eyes were full of confusion. Of course she wanted all the details of what the meeting was about, but it wasn’t her business and she defiantly shouldn’t ask in front of Mikey, considering it obviously involved him. 

“Well, we better get outta your hair April” Donnie flashed a sad smile, his eyes screaming, ‘I don’t want to go back to that’, something that April immediately recognised. 

A weak smile formed on both teens as Donnie hustled Mikey to the door, yelling a 

“See ya April! Can’t wait for the next sleepover!”

 

The car journey home was mostly consisted of the rhythmic swoosh of the window wipers against the battling rain, and the quiet murmur of the radio, after Mikey insisted on checking every station for any good song, and once he’d given up he started rambling about his sleepover with April, to which Donnie was only half listening to. He was mostly concentration on the road and the huge Bradford situation. Huge was probably an understatement. 

“Donnie, are you even listening?” He heard in his ear, he tore his eyes away from the road for a second to see his brother, feet up on the glove compartment of the car, he feet tapping slightly to the beat of the quiet music,

“Yeah, you were tellin’ me about the King Kong movie” Donnie responded,  
Mikey threw his arms in the air with a defeated huff, a sign that Donnie was most certainly not listening.

The teen mumbled something about ‘Godzilla’ before gazing out the window.  
After a few minutes silence, the freckled teen spoke up,

“So, you were talking birthday plans last night, right D?"

Donnie laughed before rolling his eyes, although his heart seemed to be doing multiple ninja worthy backflips. 

They reached their apartment lot, Donnie neatly parked up the car and both teens groggily made their way to the comfort to the apartment.  
The rain seemed to be consistent, a heavy rain cloud that didn’t seem to have moved over New York City in the last few weeks. The intelligent teen was surprised that the sewers hadn’t flooded yet. And as much as he loved to sit and listen to the rain to fall asleep or to read, being out in it was a different story completely. It was wet and cold. 

The two boys managed to drag their heavy cold bodies to the 15 floor of the complex.  
The door swung open to reveal a dimly lit hallway.

Mikey pushed past his taller brother, making his way to his room to change out of his clothes and into his pyjamas.  
Donnie stood in the doorway; his heart flew into his throat.

Had Raph really left?  
Donnie seemed to be glued to the spot, unable to move his legs. They felt like wet noodles, one step and he could seem to fall to pieces.  
It wasn’t the call from his younger brother that made his seem to snap out of his trance, 

“Hey Don, we got any marshmallows?”

Donnie numbly walked into the hallway, swinging his arm behind him shutting the door.

He wandered into the kitchen where he saw his idiot of a brother, in his dinosaur pyjamas, that seemed to fit him still after years of practically living in them, trying to reach the top shelf, kneeling on the kitchen side, his tongue sticking out in concentration as his fingers brushed against the packet of marshmallows.  
Donnie felt his heart swell, his brother was just a kid. A kid brother. How would they tell him this huge news to such a little kid?  
Then like on auto pilot, Donnie felt his wobbly legs walk up to his brother, wrapping his noodle arms around his, startling his slightly.

“Woah Don what are ya-“ Mikey asked, feeling himself being lifted from where he was carefully balanced,

Donnie placed him on the floor, he felt the cold floor on his bare feet. Strong hands placed themselves on his shoulders, spinning him around to look his older brother, his warm brown eyes seemed so comforting, but so scared. Before Mikey could even open his mouth he felt strong arms wrap themselves around him, hugging him close.  
Donnie was much taller than Mikey despite being only two years older than him, but Mikey loved it, because when there was hugs like this, Mikey would rest his head on Donnie’s chest, just tall enough to hear his beating heart, his strong golden heart. 

And neither of them moved, the silence told Donnie that neither of his older brothers was here, which was a sign that Leo had most defiantly gone after Raph after he left last night in a tearing rage. Mikey felt Donnie’s heart beat profoundly, he looked up, cranking his neck, to look at his brother, who was now gently resting his chin on the top of his head, his eyes closed,

“Donnie? You okay?” Mikey asked as he watched his brothers eyes flicker open, his brown eyes meeting his baby blue ones once again, 

See, the thing was that Donnie only became affectionate if things got bad. Back when Donnie got bullied, Mikey remembered Donnie coming home, his skin more blue, black and purple than skin coloured, he remembered Raph and Leo flying out the door, scowls plastered on their faces and the mutter of, “Stay here guys”. He remembered that night, how he and Donnie curled up together, Donnie sobbing on Mikey’s shoulder, whilst the smaller teen gave a comforting smile and held an ice pack to his bruised head. There was nothing better than Mikey hugs; there was no doubt about it. 

So if Donnie wanted a hug, something was defiantly wrong. But Mikey was smart, he knew there was some sort of problem and that he was being kept in the dark about it, and the best way to get anything from them when they were like this, was to wriggle his way in slowly. It was a little brother thing; act sweet and innocent and then maybe they’ll let the secrets spill. 

A croaky response quietly escaped Donnie’s lips,

“Yeah buddy” making Mikey snuggle in closer to his older brother, silently thinking of the possible scenario’s, hoping that whatever it was, his big brothers sorted it out soon.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!   
> So I'm back from vacation and I just finished editing this chapter (before I passed out from exhaustion) so here it is! 
> 
> Warning: This does have rape mention again so if you find that uncomfortable or triggering, here is your warning :)
> 
> Please remember to leave kudos and comments or whatever since they help a lot! thanks :D  
> Have a great weekend guys,   
> Much love !!

Donnie switched the TV on, the room suddenly being lit up with various colours; shadows began to cast from where he and his little brother sat on the couch.   
They should have been back by now. It had been a whole day.   
Of course he had left about a thousand messages on both brothers’ phones, desperate pleas to answer him, at least to drop him a quick text, just to make sure they were okay. He couldn’t go out to look for them, he wouldn’t know where to start and besides, he had to look after Mikey and Donnie knew he had to keep his cool; he didn’t want his baby brother finding out stuff he wouldn’t want to know.

Or maybe he would want to know, it wasn’t like Mikey had any parents anyways, the kid had been raised by his own brothers, out on the streets. Mikey knew what parents were, he had met Renet’s parents, he watched TV, and he knew what they were. But he didn’t have that. He never did. He never met his mother and he barely knew Yoshi and he didn’t have the slightest clue on who Bradford was. Of course when Mikey was little he would ask why they had no mommy and daddy, which led to a lot of explaining but Donnie knew that never in his brother’s little life did he ever want parents, as far as he knew anyway, he never cried over it or got jealous over his friends who had picture perfect families, simply because Mikey had never wanted one. His small little band of brothers was enough for him. That’s just how Mikey liked it. 

And now it was all going to change. A random guy who Mikey would call ‘dad’, thrown in the mix.   
But now Leo and Raph were somewhere and Donnie had no idea where, all Raph said last night, in his blinding rage was that he was ‘gonna kill that son of a bitch’ – there was no doubt that he wasn’t referring to Bradford. Just the name made the teen’s stomach churn. What he did to his mother, their mother. What he did to their family – he broke it, stomped his big feet all over it and destroyed it, made their lives what they were now and Donnie felt sick, just to think that one man did this all. 

The TV seemed to be nothing a blur as Donnie felt hot salty tears begin to spring behind his brown eyes, but the tall teen bit them back, if Mikey saw him cry he wouldn’t hear the end of it, and not the teasing kind, the smaller teen would pester him to tell him what was wrong and Donnie couldn’t simply say ‘Oh yeah Mikey, it’s just that your true father is a rapist and everything is falling apart but apart from that everything is fine little brother’.  
Donnie sucked in a harsh breath and just prayed to whatever God was out there, that his brothers came home soon and in one piece.

The tears seemed to have evaded and the screen was clearer now.  
It was a news report on one of the street gangs of New York. The Foot.  
A stupid name, Donnie admitted, but he knew not to cross paths with these types of people. Donnie sighed sadly, slumping his shoulders when the report informed him that a man had been killed on the other side of Queen’s and that is was most likely The Foot’s doing. Another murder. 

“Looks like the whole world is falling apart huh?” Donnie breathed, leaning back into the soft comfort of the couch.  
The teen looked to his side to see that Mikey had fallen asleep. Donnie had given him some medication for his flu which seemed to have knocked him out, which was a good thing because he didn’t want him to start asking questions on the where-about of their older brothers. 

He smiled slightly at his brother, his mouth agape with one arm hanging over the armrest, a total idiot, but Donnie wouldn’t have it any other way.  
The familiar click of the door out in the hallway made Donnie shoot out of his chair.

He saw his brothers, Raph practically leaning off of Leo, his face pained.  
Donnie felt them tears bubbling back, this time he had no control over them,

“Where the hell where you both?” Donnie whisper shouted, silent tears slipping down his cheeks,

“Donnie I’m sorry I should have called” Leo spoke, he sounded tired and so, ‘un-Leo-ish’. He sounded scared, like a little kid getting told off.

Donnie blinked which was an invitation for more tears to fall freely from his watery eyes.  
His gaze turned to Raph, his face painted colourfully with various bruises. 

“What happened” Donnie asked, his voice steady but still angry. 

“The Foot, that’s what happened” Raph spat, cringing as his lip burst open, blood trickling onto his chin, he wiped it away with a fist.

“Let’s get Raph cleaned up, then we can talk about it” Leo said, moving Raph to the living room.

All three boys stopped when they saw Mikey sprawled out on the couch, totally out of it, mumbling incoherent strings of words.

“Thanks for picking him up from Aprils, Don” Leo said quietly, a shy smile.  
But Donnie just shrugged, a way of saying, ‘you’re welcome Leo, it was no big deal’.

Once Donnie had fetched the ice pack they had in the freezer he returned to the living room to see Leo sitting on the floor, Raph in the chair opposite him. Donnie threw the ice pack gracefully to Raph who managed to catch it with one hand and began to carefully nurse the bruises that scattered his face.  
Donnie stood in the doorway looking at Leo who had his head in his hands; there was silence apart from the tiny snores coming from Mikey and the occasional winces from Raph. 

“So” Donnie started slowly, hoping at least one of his brothers would break the silence with shedding some light on why the hell both of them were gone all night and for the rest of the day.

“So” Leo repeated, his voice sounded tired and wary, he looked up at his taller brother then back to Raph who had one swollen eye shut, but the scowl on his face was clear.

“Wanna start telling the story Raphael?” Leo asked, almost teasingly, 

“Yeah, I’ll start the damn story, the part where you stopped me from kicking the ever living shit outta Bradford that’s what” Raph said, standing up, raising his voice,

“Raph shut up” Donnie whispered, and immediately all three brothers turned their attention to the sleeping teen on the couch, luckily Donnie knew that the amount of medication he had given him, he shouldn’t be waking up any time soon.

“Should we move him to his room?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow, gesturing to his sleeping brother,  
The brothers nodded as Leo scooped him up bridal style and walked into his room.

Donnie looked at Raph as his chest heaved up and down in pure rage and anger, of course Raph wanted to kill Bradford. He would love to see that type of guy get the crap beaten out of him, but he hated seeing his brother get like this, in a rage that he couldn’t control, it always ended up with him coming up and stupid hours of the day, littered in bruises and cuts. It always ended up in a fight with Leo and Raph. 

Donnie remembered when they were younger, a few years after they moved into their new home, Leo was 19, Raph was about to turn 13, the rebellious teenager. He would pick fights at school, getting into trouble for no apparent reason, which meant many trips to the Principles office for Leo. And then soon it became fights out on the streets and then fights back at home. Donnie remembered one fight so clear, it was when the cops had to escort Raph home after getting into some fight with a couple of Purple Dragons. The cops had a quiet talk with Leo, just out of earshot, but once they were gone, a huge fight erupted and Donnie remembered watching them spit words out at each other, and then Leo screaming,  
“DO YOU WANT THEM TO TAKE YOU AWAY? DO YOU WANT THEM TO TAKE DONNIE AND MIKEY AWAY? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?” 

And that scared Donnie. He remembered Raph storming to his room, slamming his door in anger, but Donnie knew and so did Leo that Raph was scared as well.   
They were safe now; social services could never take him or Raph.   
But they could always take Mikey away and that haunted Donnie. But that could all change now, all because of Chris Bradford.

Leo walked back into the room, sitting where Mikey had been laying not long ago, the brothers exchanged looks before Leo spoke up.

“We have to tell him” 

Donnie shot a glare at Raph waiting for his reaction, but there was nothing.  
Leo continued,

“Me and Raph had a talk, we think he should know, but not yet”,

Raph nodded, actually for once agreeing with his older brother. 

“Right” Donnie nodded, 

There was that awful silence again,

“So what about where you guys were last night?” Donnie said, looking back at Leo, 

“Told ya” Raph’s gruff voice spoke up,

“Had a run in with The Foot” 

Donnie shrunk a little, he didn’t want his brother to go back to his old ways of playing some sort of vigilante, it was dangerous,

“Raph, I thought you said you’d stop-“ Donnie begun but was interrupted, 

“I didn’t go lookin’ for trouble Donnie, it just that…” Raph’s voice trailed off, become more smaller, he looked up to Leo, Donnie followed his gaze.

"Bradford is part of The Foot, Donnie” Leo said quietly low.

Donnie felt the blood rush to his head, almost as if he was going to pass out any moment, and he was sure he would, but his controlled relaxed breaths prevented that.

“And you wanna tell Mikey all this because?” Donnie asked, raising his eyebrows,

“Because he has a right Don” Leo said talking a little louder, impatient almost,

Donnie went to open his mouth but once again was interrupted by Raphael,

“Look, say we never tell the little sucker. And then in years to come, he finds out, he’d hate us Donnie, for keeping something that big from us… I don’t think I could live with that” Raph looked to the floor.

Donnie didn’t say a word, instead he just soaked up everything that Raphael had said, trying to make sense of it, when in reality none of this was making sense.

“And besides,” Leo spoke out, his voice cool and smooth,  
“Bradford wants custody of him”

Donnie’s heart felt like a brick in his chest, sinking.  
“What?!” He spluttered out, 

Leo chuckled ironically, shaking his head,  
“I know, that’s my reaction exactly, you wouldn’t think that a guy who is part of a murderous gang would be able to look after a 14 year old boy” 

“Yeah that and the fact that he’s a rapist” Donnie spat, lowering his tone on the last word, feeling slightly sick again.

Leo and Raph exchanged uneasy looks,  
“See that’s the catch” Raph spoke in a low tone, 

His voice ripping through the tension like a knife,  
“Bradford was never charged of rape, he got away with it” 

Donnie felt the bile rise in his throat, the burning sensation that didn’t seem to go away. And then he felt his heart drum against his chest a million miles an hour, the sound of pumping blood rushing through his ears, and as the three brothers sat in the dull room, Donnie wondered if the feeling he was experiencing was what Raph felt like in his rage, because if it was, the tall brother had a new found respect for his older brother.


	18. Chapter 18

The day Leo turned 16 was full of celebration. Not because of the usual reasons a teen would celebrate turning such an age, but because Murikami had given him a job. This meant one thing – money.

As soon as Leo had them dollar bills in his pocket it was the simple job of buying an apartment under his father’s name – he had left all his details to make this easier for the teen.  
And Murikami had come up with a compromise to let them move out on their own that if anyone came looking for these kids, Murikami would act as some sort of support and help, which meant, pretending to be Hamato Yoshi.

Leo was horrified at first; fear that his beloved friend would get in all sorts of trouble, begging Murikami not to put himself in this type of position, just to live his own life without getting twisted up in the mess that was theirs. 

But the man refused point blank, claiming that they were family and that family stood up for each other and that, Leo couldn’t disagree with.

So after a few months of working extra-long hours for the white haired man, Leo finally felt the money in his pocket, just enough for a small crummy apartment, not too long from the noodle shop. 

It wasn’t that Leo didn’t love living with Murikami, when the old man took them off the streets for the past year and half things had gotten better, Raph and Donnie were doing better at school, Leo was happy for a roof over his head and a hot meal for him and his brothers. And Mikey was happy. Just like a six year old should be. Not complaining of a growling stomach and the cold.   
But Murakami had fallen terribly ill, the burden falling heavy on Leo, feeling nothing but guilt. So the decision was made after numerous long talks and begs and pleas, but Murakami let them go. Let Leo do what he so desperately wanted to for so long in his little life. Provide for his family.

The job wasn’t much at first, it was simply sweeping up, cleaning dishes, but the sicker the man got, the bigger the task got, and Leo wasn’t complaining, but he had this gut wrenching feeling in his gut every time he saw his friend stumble or erupt into a fit of coughs. 

But Murakami knew that these four boys he’d known for so long, from the first time he saw them on the streets, Leo had looked up at him with such a desperate look as his brothers huddled over one slice of bread, faces dirty, to the time they moved in, with nothing but the clothes off their backs, he knew that they could take care of themselves as long as they stuck together. 

Murakami never asked what had happened to them, all he knew was that there were no parents and that these kids weren’t just runaways.

He never asked because Leo never said anything, he knew that the boy was very protective of his family and if he had something to say then he would say it, the old man knew he had no right to force anything from him. But Murakami knew that the loneliness of these for boys would be filled with his daughter and granddaughter who was moving to live with him, as the sicker he got, he knew he had to spend whatever time he had left with his family.

They never really left, the boys, the would take trips down to visit Murikami and his small family, ordering large bowls of noodles and, Mikey’s favourite, Pizza Gyoza. The conversations would normally revolve around the brother’s new neighbours and the antics of their new apartment and Murikami would laugh with them and that would warm Leo, knowing that there were still good men in this world, ones that cared, ones that laughed and ruffled your hair and ones that loved. And Murakami loved. He loved them so and Leo knew that the love was requited and that his friend knew that. 

But then one day all of that went away.

Murakami went away, leaving nothing but a hollow shell, a ghostly shadow in Leo.

It had been three years since leaving the Noodle Shop when Murakami passed away. That was the year that Leo was legally allowed to become the legal guardian of Raph, Donnie and Mikey. And that scared Leo, all these years of hiding away from police and social services in fear of losing his brothers, using Murakami as some sort of guard, knowing if he ever got in trouble he could be helped by his beloved second father, Leo was never afraid. 

But now that there was no more hiding in the shadows and that he was safe from any social workers taking his brothers away from him, Leo had never felt so scared in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!
> 
> So this chapter is a little shorter because I the next few chapters are extra long so this one is little shorter:)  
> So this is just kind of like a flashback-y kinda chapter, which is one more puzzle to their past, but do not fret - all will be revealed soon ;)
> 
> So leave some comments and kudos or whatever because they really help me out!  
> Have a great weekend guys,
> 
> Much love !!
> 
> P.S also im like a million years late on updating Sacrifice and I'm sorry but I have huge writers block for that story so there aren't any chapters for that any time soon, unless I have a brain wave (which I doubt) so just hang in there!! Thanks ! :)


	19. Chapter 19

Mikey cracked his eyelids open to see he wasn’t were he’d fallen asleep earlier. The familiar posters that hung lazily on the walls indicated that Donnie had put him to bed. He glanced at the digital alarm clock to his right, the time read 5:00pm. He must have been out cold.

He swung his short legs over the side of the bed stepping over action figures that littered the floor making it some sort of obstacle course for the teen. If there was an Olympic event for ‘not-stubbing-your-toe-on-Lego-in-a-dark-room’ he would defiantly be going for Gold that was for sure. Rubbing his eyes with his knuckles in some sort of attempt to wake up, if it wasn’t for the rumbling pain in his stomach he would happily retreat to his bundle of warmth and blankets in his bed, but he desperately needed some food in him. 

He stopped at his door when he heard familiar voices from the living room.  
His brothers were home, and Mikey felt a smile creep onto his lips. He hadn’t seen them since last night before he went to April’s. Donnie said something about the two brother’s going birthday shopping, his smile widening, his imagination running wild with ideas and expectations. Then he heard Leo’s voice snapping him out of his little dream world. But it wasn’t Leo’s voice. It was cold and harsh, something that made a shiver run down the boys spine,

“I know, that’s my reaction exactly, you wouldn’t think that a guy who is part of a murderous gang would be able to look after a 14 year old boy”

Mikey froze, this defiantly didn’t sound like birthday plans.   
He knew that he shouldn’t be eavesdropping but this could be his one chance to catch some sort of glimpse of this huge secret that they seemed to be hiding from him.  
Then he heard Donnie’s voice, practically spitting his words, 

“Yeah that and the fact that he’s a rapist”

Mikey’s blood run cold. Rapist? 

He felt some sort of lump form in his throat, guilt taking over him, but no matter how tempting the bed from the other side of his room seemed, he felt his feet glued to the floor unable to move, wanting to hear just a little bit more. 

Now it was Raph’s turn to speak, his voice seemed low, almost scared,

“See that’s the catch”

Mikey stood still but his heart seemed to be thumping in his chest as if he had just ran some huge marathon.  
There was a silence, and Mikey panicked slightly, hoping his brother’s hadn’t noticed that he was listening so carefully to every word that they were saying.

Normally Mikey felt comfort in the way his brothers spoke. It was a reminder that he wasn’t alone, that his brothers were here, but the way Raph spoke made him want to run away, even though he had nowhere or no one to run too, without his brothers he was alone in this world,

“Bradford was never charged of rape, he got away with it”

Mikey frowned, who the hell was Bradford? His instantly tried to rack his brain trying to remember anything about this guy, who he was and why the hell his brothers were talking in secret about him.

Mikey felt himself chewing the inside of his cheek as the silence wafted around the apartment. He knew what this meant, they were angry.  
Then he heard Donnie’s voice shatter through the apartment, voice cracking and all,

“Oh god Leo” Mikey heard him speak, and Mikey felt his heart sink, Donnie was most likely crying now and it took every inch of willpower in the freckled teen to not want to run out there are tackle him in some sort of bone crushing hug,

Leo’s smooth voice spoke next,

“I know Donnie, I know” He sounded like a deflated balloon which scared Mikey,

“Leo what are we gonna do, we don’t have enough money for a lawyer” Raph spoke up, 

Mikey frowned, puzzled, a lawyer? Why would they need a lawyer?  
He heard a small sigh and only guessed in came from Leo when he spoke,

“I know Raph, I don’t know what we can do”

Mikey swallowed the saliva that had suddenly formed in his mouth, trying to ignore his stomachs rumbling request for food,

“We have to do something” Raph argued back, a little louder this time, making Mikey jump,

He heard the echo of Donnie and Leo, telling him to be quiet. Mikey imagined Raph waving a lazy hand at them.

“There’s not much we can do Raph” Leo spoke, his tone was sad and defeated, something Mikey had never heard in Leo. Whatever this was Leo had some sort of plan, he always did, and now he was giving up. So easily as well.

Mikey was about to walk out the room, assuming the conversation was over from the long silence when he heard Donnie speak up again, making the young teen instantly take a step back into the shadows of his small room.

“So that’s it then?” His voice was wobbly,

Another damn silence, another damn silence which told Mikey that things were defiantly not okay and that shook him up a little, especially how he was being kept from all this stuff, he may be 14 only but he had some sort of right in knowing what they were talking about, right? 

“Yeah I guess” Leo spoke, and this time it sounded like Leo was crying.  
Leo never cried. Ever. He couldn’t, he wasn’t allowed. If Leo cried then it was a sign that Mikey should most defiantly be crying. And that scared the hell out of him. 

“No, Leo, look – we gotta sort this out, we can’t let hi-“Raph’s shaking stuttering voice was interrupted by a louder, more shakier voice.

Mikey felt his heart beat double time and then it seemed to stop completely. He felt his legs melt into puddles of goo. He could have sworn the room was spinning, and not just because of the medication. His mouth ran dry his eyes stinging from what he had just heard from his bug brother’s mouth. The big brother that was supposed to protect him. The big brother that as supposed to make sure everything was going to be okay. And after the words that seemed to be scraping raw out from the pits of Leo’s stomach, Mikey felt everything crumble around him,

“We have no choice. Bradford is Mikey’s true father. We can’t keep him here”

Because the big brother Mikey adored so much, wasn’t even his brother anymore.


	20. Chapter 20

The night of November 11th was nothing but a blur to Leo. He vaguely remembered being shaken awake, slipping on his shoes, still tired before he fully woke up in the car ride to the hospital, his mother’s screams jolting him awake. 

The car journey seemed to be a quick journey filled of agonising screams and moans. The car was dimly lit apart from the occasional pockets of light that seeped from the street lights outside, finding their way into the car, lighting up everyone’s facial expressions for a split second each time. Leo felt a tug at his heart, whenever his mother had gone into labour; it had never been this bad. 

The nurses seemed to rush into the parking lot, barking out orders to one another, whilst Leo jogged behind them, holding Raph’s hand, father had Donnie balancing on his hip, and his face seemed to have paled. That was nothing new; father always worried, but Leo had some weird feeling about tonight, about his new sibling. Something that he hadn’t felt with either Raph or Donnie’s births, something new… something off.

Leo cringed at the sound of his mother’s wails as the wheelchair was pushed through the double doors of the hospital.   
The bustle of the busy building seemed to blur around the boy, his full attention focused on his mother.  
Her face was pale and sweaty, her hair stuck grimly to her forehead, tears seeping through closed eyes.  
Leo felt a lump form in his throat, squeezing Raph’s hand in his own, some sort of reassurance.

They sat there a while, whilst nurses seemed to be preparing a room.  
Father was holding her hand, rubbing it with his thumb, whispering in her ear, planting gentle delicate kisses on her cheeks, attempting to sooth her through her pain. She smiled through gritted teeth, a sign that even though the pain wasn’t going away, she appreciated the gesture.

Leo picked up her free hand and held in his own, smiling a sympathetic smile at her. 

She looked up at him and her facial expression seemed to have relaxed, letting out a huff of air, she spoke between desperate gulps for air,

“My boys” She began her voice was strained,

“My beautiful boys” She spoke gentler now, looking back at father and Donnie then to Leo and Raph.

“I love you dearly” Her eyes prickled with tears,

“I’m so proud of you all” She said in a whisper, too weak,

She scrunched up her face again in pain, Leo took a step forward but he felt his mother being pulled away.

“We have to go now” A nurse spoke, pushing the wheelchair

Yoshi nodded, handing Leo his baby brother, 

“Be good” He said simply before rushing after the nurse.

And as Leo watched his mother being wheeled away, she turned around to face him and blew them a kiss.

Little did Leo know that, that was the last time he would see his mother alive again.

 

It had been too long. Leo glanced back up at the clock that was ticking away on the wall.

They had been sitting here, waiting for at least 2 hours now. It never took this long. Leo knew that.  
Leo moved slightly, trying not to disturb Donnie who was peacefully sleeping in his arms, oblivious to the drama around him, unaware that he could have a little brother or sister right now.  
Leo felt his heart warm at the thought of having a new sibling in the world. He felt that feeling he felt the last two times, the feeling of anticipation. He couldn’t wait any longer.   
Then just like magic he saw his father wander into the room. Leo nudged Raph who was playing with his cars, too look up. The two boy’s faces cracked into a smile when they saw their father emerge.

Leo got up, holing Donnie as they walked towards him but as Leo got closer, he saw that he wasn’t mirroring the same face as them. Leo’s heart felt a million times heavier when he saw the tears that seemed to be leaking from his pale face.  
Leo and Raph exchanged worried looks.

Then, before either of the boys could speak, their Father spoke up, his voice sounded raw and tired,

“Boys. Your Mother is gone”

Leo felt the prickle behind his eyes, holding them back with every inch of will power that his ten year old body held.

“Gone where?” Raph asked innocently,

Leo saw the raw hurt in his Father’s facial expression, the fact that Raph didn’t understand what their Father was implying broke Yoshi.

“Raphael… Boys…” He begun, his shaky hand finding comfort on Raph’s shoulder,

“Your Mother has died”.

And either though Leo had already understood the first time, the blow was still hard. Like a fist to the gut, Leo stood there blinking away tears that burned his eyes.  
Raph let out a chocked sob, his breath hitched, as a louder sob erupted from his throat.

But Yoshi did not hold him and tell him that everything would be okay, he simply let his hand rest on the boy’s shoulder, his own cries escaping from him.

Leo didn’t realise the deadly grip he had formed on Donnie’s T-Shirt, he didn’t know if it was out of fear or pain, but Leo knew his heart was a swirling mess of both.  
Yoshi stood there, tears dribbling down his paled voice; no words of comfort came from him. Just silence, apart from the cries from Raph.

Leo felt as if barbed wire had wrapped itself dangerously around Leo’s heart. His breathing became rapid and short, the burning feeling in his eyes screaming in pain.  
A loud wail from the bottom of his gut seemed to travel through his body, echoing off the hospitals white walls. He didn’t care if people were looking, he didn’t give a damn, his mother was gone.  
He threw his head back, screaming a pained cry, tears now falling free, dripping off his chin.  
He heard the small cried of Donnie, who had no idea what was going on but had joined in.  
As all three brothers stood in the hospital waiting room, numbly crying, Leo had a sudden thought. The baby.  
Through sobs, Leo was able to regain what was left of his ragged breathing,

“The baby?” He asked, dribbling with misery,

“He is fine” Yoshi spoke, still not looking any of his sons in the eyes.

Leo felt another tug at his heart. He had another baby brother but if felt so different now, so alien. Their mother was no longer here. 

There was a silence and Leo felt nothing apart from the fidget of Donnie in his arms.  
Then the weight seemed to be lifted as he watched his Father scoop the younger brother in his own arms and Leo suddenly felt empty, with nothing to cling onto.  
Raph was snivelling beside him, hiccupping and wailing pained words.

Yoshi then guided them to the room which their newest, and perhaps last, member of the family was.  
But Leo didn’t even want to move but like auto pilot his legs followed the rest of what was his broken family.

The room was small and was filled of sleeping babies all snuggled up, ready to be taken away from their mothers, something they now did not have.  
That tight feeling in his chest returned when he looked over at the cot that his brother laid.

He had bright blue eyes and was so small.

He looked up at Leo, and gurgled, no idea what was going on around him, no idea that this baby would share a birthday with the day their mother died.   
The tears returned at the thought of this baby having no mother to sing him to sleep. No mother to kiss him good morning and goodnight. No mother to wave him off to school. No mother to love. And as hard as Leo tried to push it into the depths of him mind, he couldn’t help but think that he too would be without these things as well. Forever. And the barbed wire around Leo’s fragile heart seemed to twist and tighten around him more, the more he thought about the mother he would never see again. Ever. Because she was never coming back, and Leo hoped for a split second that the barbed wire would simple pierce him completely because he didn’t want live in this type of agony. And that blurred feeling of when Leo first was awoken in the late hours of this horrible night, returned and the oldest boy hoped that if it became blurry enough, then maybe he could forget it all together. 

But the happy gurgles from the new born baby made him blink. The baby shared a toothless grip, his eyes wide looking at the strange figures that towered above him. 

“Michelangelo” Yoshi spoke quietly, slicing through the pained silence.

Both Raph and Leo turned their attention to their Father, who seemed millions of worlds away.

“His name is Michelangelo” He spoke, another gut wrenching sob slipping through his lips and he held Donnie, bringing him too his chest.

Leo saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to get close to his Father and he buried himself into his warm body, wanting to stay there forever. Soon Leo felt another warm presence as Raph joined the hugs.

Then through muffled sobs, Yoshi spoke, a weak voice, almost as if he were clinging onto some tiny shard of hope,

“ We will get through this boys, together”


	21. Chapter 21

Michelangelo had always been the fastest runner out of his brothers, yet he’d never really doing something with this talent, like singing up for the Track Team or going for the Olympics because he didn’t really care much for running, it was simply a talent he had and he took as it went. But now that he felt the burn in his legs rising through him like wildfire - he had a newfound love for it.

He had no idea where he was going, it wasn’t like he had anyone else in the world, apart from his brothers of course, but in this situation he was running from them. The sound of shoes hitting the concrete pavement and his own ragged breaths echoed in his mind. The rain stung his face as he battled against it, his heart jamming against his chest, ready to explode. He heard the voices behind him, yelling his name, but Mikey felt like he was underwater, unable to breathe, unable to fully compensate what had happened.

Bradford was his father.  
Whoever the hell that guy was.

The yells seemed to be closer now but he didn’t stop to see who it was chasing after him.  
Mikey lets his legs take him wherever they were going, even if it meant out of Queens, heck maybe even New York. He just needed to run, which was something he had never really needed before. 

Mikey rarely got angry, and if he did, he would be back to his usual self in no time. But on the very few occasions where he would get mad, Mikey would simply go for a walk, maybe bring his sketch pad and doodle.

Never had he ever wanted to run.

He wasn’t jogging anymore, he broke into a full out sprint with a burst of energy, sensing the brother close behind him.   
They were all he had and now he was running from them, it didn’t even make sense, yet, none of this did.

The winter wind bit harshly at his exposed skin and Mikey inwardly cursed at himself for not picking up his wind breaker on the way out. But he was a mess, he didn’t even realised he had ran away before he reached the main doors to the apartment building, he wondered if his brothers had figured out why he was running, but he guessed from the drowned out cries from behind him, they knew that Mikey had heard it all.

Why were they chasing after him when Leo didn’t want him anymore? It felt like a huge fist to the gut, making him feel sick, the hot chocolate he had shared with Donnie earlier, seemed to leave a bitter taste in his mouth, that if he hadn’t been brought up with manners, he would have spat onto the pavement, trying to get rid of the foul taste.

The hammering sensation in his head made his small frame shake, and Mikey began to feel himself slowing down, suddenly realising that he already had a flu and that what he was doing was beyond stupid.  
He slipped into an ally way, sliding down the wall in some sort of comfort, bringing his knees to his chest, then wrapping his arms around himself, Mikey hugs were great, but they worked better when they were shared with a bundle of older brothers. 

Mikey blinked through the rain as he saw a frantic Raphael emerge.  
He hadn’t seen him since last night and his eyes widened at the state of his brothers face.  
When Raph spotted his brother curled up on the floor, his face cracked into a wobbly smile. His chest exhaled, almost as if he had been holding his breath throughout the whole chase.

“Oh thank God” The older brother breathed as he slowly walked towards his trembling brother,

Raph knelt beside him, reaching out to rest on his shoulder,

“Stay away from me Raph!” Mikey yelled his voice cracking.

Both teens recoiled slightly. The freckled teen felt an uncomfortable knot form in the pits of his stomach; he had never done that before.

Raph’s green eyes were piercing to say the least, but as Mikey looked up from his glare on the pavement at his feet, he saw that Raph’s eyes weren’t angry that he had ran off, but so warm and welcoming, almost as if they were screaming, ‘Let’s go home’

And as much as Mikey wanted to be with his bros, he didn’t have the strength to go home, sitting in the freezing cold made more sense to him. Things were gonna get messy and from Leo’s tone, it sounded like a mess that even he couldn’t clear up, which was one thing that Mikey hated the most, seeing his big brother like that, tangled up in a mess they had no power over.   
Mikey felt his breath hitched because the banging headache reminded him that they weren’t even really brothers. Only related through their mother. Half-brothers. And that made Mikey feel miles away from them, like he was on some sort of Desert Island, and the fact that Leo was shipping him off to this - did he say rapist? The knot in his stomach seemed to be twisting and growing making him feel queasy.

Mikey had been too lost in thought to notice the coat from Raphael, four sizes too big, being snuggled around him, letting his arms being shoved through the sleeves as he let the world spin around him, Mikey felt like he was still. 

“Leo’s gonna pick us up in the car, kay?” Raph spoke slowly and softly, almost if Mikey was a child again, because right now he did feel like a little kid. That was what he was, a kid brother. Half-brother.   
Mikey nodded numbly, his gaze still fixated on the ground.

Then after about five minutes the roll of smooth tires on wet ground was heard, and Raph hopped up, guiding Mikey by gently holding his elbow, knowing that his baby brother was too zoned out to follow him on his own.

Raph swung the door open into the passenger seat, getting instant relief from the heater that seemed to be blasting throughout the car.  
Donnie who was sitting behind Raph was clicking in Mikey’s seatbelt, his own fingers too numb.  
Leo and Donnie’s eyes met, before Leo flickered over to Raph, all with worried looks as Mikey sat coldly, dripping wet with no sound.  
Leo’s hands gripped the steering wheel knuckles turning white slightly, his eyes flickering from the road to the mirror where he could see Mikey sitting in the seat behind him.  
After what felt of hours of silence as small voice chocked out a sob,

“Are you getting rid of me then?” 

Leo felt that barbed wire wrap itself around his heart again,  
“No, Mike-“ But before Leo could finish off any pleas he had an unfamiliar yell erupted,

“I HEARD YOU LEO YOU SAID YOU COULDN’T KEEP ME ANYMORE” Mikey gulped in a breath of air, his chest breathing unsteady breaths,

“That’s not what I meant I-“ But for a second time, Mikey’s voice rose over Leo’s wobbling one,

“I heard you. I know what you said. We aren’t even brothers, so what does it matter anyways” Mikey spat and it felt like a dagger in his heart,

“Don’t you DARE say that Michelangelo” Leo yelled, his eyes looking directly into his little brother’s watery blue ones.

Then Leo’s tone softened, like melted butter, his glare became a sympatric watery filled sad look,  
“Mikey, we love-“

But Leo never got to finish his sentence for the third time, when the sound of a horn blaring, followed by a flash of white light, as the car erupted with screams and the horrific sound of tyres desperately trying to cause friction between them and the road, as an almighty force seemed to spin the car around, flipping it over multiple times.  
And as Mikey felt his body being mercifully flung around the car, sat in his seat, his body being held back by the seatbelt, eyes squeezed shut, Mikey felt like he was underwater, thousands of feet under the ocean, desperately needing air, with nothing but muffled screams echoing around him, he wondered if this was what dying felt like.

 

The hiss of the car engine pierced through the evening night. Leo cracked his eyelids open, every inch of his body screaming, in pain or fear, he did not know, but he did know that he had to make sure his brothers, all that was left of his family, were okay and Leo would without a doubt always put them first.

He looked over to his right where Raphael was sat, his head dipped, Leo was unable to see his face.  
Leo gently shook him, but he couldn’t feel the fabric of his t-shirt on his fingers that desperately locked into a fist of clothes, the feeling of numbness seemed to spread around him as Raph didn’t respond. Leo wanted to scream or cry or just anything, but he couldn’t, there was no energy in him, it was almost as if all the life force was sucked out of him.   
It wasn’t a moment later that Leo realised that the car seemed to be bent at an awkward position and that it was on its side, since the driver’s seat window was blocked full of road, shards of glass latching into the skin of his arms.  
Then a quiet moan was heard from the passenger seat as Raphael began to stir, then for the first time Leo had come round he let out a small sob, 

“You alright?” Leo asked, his voice sounded raw and scratchy, 

Raph nodded, his eyes squeezed shut. A cold relief washed over Leo. At least he wasn’t on his own here.  
The eldest brother attempted to turn his head to look into the back of the car but stopped when a sharp pain erupted in his neck, begging him to stop.  
Leo yelped which made Raph open his eyes suddenly,

“Leo?” He asked, and he sounded so scared, so worried and so young.

“I’m… I’m okay, check on Donnie and Mikey” Leo panted, his voice was strained from the way he tried to hold back any pain he was feeling in his neck, trying to gain at least a little control over his worried breathing,

Raph twisted himself, gritting his teeth as his repositioned himself, just at an angle to look into the back of the car where the two youngest brothers had been sat.

“Fuck”   
Raph’s voice was barely audible, wavering between the edge of tears or maybe throwing up.

“Raph, what?” Leo spoke, panic clear in his voice as he clutched his neck, wishing he could just look at them,

“Jesus Christ, Leo” Raph repeated his green orbs where mere pinpricks in his eyes as he looked at the wreckage of the car.

“Raph!” Leo yelled, his voice cracking as tears began to spring to his eyes, an ice cold feeling of worry sinking to his stomach that froze him over, 

Raph look his intense stare from the back of the car to Leo for a split second before looking again, his mouth open slightly.  
Leo felt nauseated as the glass dug deeper in any attempts to look at what Raph was seeing, and as Leo followed his brothers gaze, it looked like he was looking at the left back side of the car, which was were Mikey had been sat.  
From the way Raph’s breathing seemed laboured, slow and raspy, Leo guessed he was in some state of shock, unable to tear his eyes away from whatever horror was sitting behind him. And Leo felt his heart fly into his throat, just the thought of any of his brothers being hurt made a painful stabbing sensation in his guts.  
Then a small moan of pain was heard, and from the look that Raph had suddenly shot him, it wasn’t either of them,

“Ow” A familiar voice spoke, and Leo felt his face crack into a wobbly smile,

“Donnie, are you okay?” Leo asked, still unable to look around,

“Yeah I’m fine, my arms a little busted but, I’m okay” His voice spoke out, a little shaky.

Leo felt a cold wave of small relief wash over him, two out of three brothers were conscious, although Raph seemed to be on the brink of a mental breakdown, which didn’t make this any easier for Leo.

“Donnie, is Mikey okay?” Leo asked, trying to mask the panic in him voice,

He heard a moan from Donnie and shortly a sharp gasp,

“Donnie?” Leo asked, pain now clear in his voice, 

“Leo…” Donnie spoke, almost as if he was mesmerized,   
Donnie gulped,

“The whole back of your side of the car is gone Leo” Donnie said in monotone, as if in complete shock.

Both his brothers were in an awful state of shock, and the other, Leo couldn’t even get to.

“Donnie” Leo spoke slowly trying to capture his attention,  
“Donatello” Leo spoke again, which made Donnie twitch slightly as his eyes peeled away from the seat next to him, to Leo,  
“Is Mikey okay?” He asked, he felt tears bubbling behind his blue eyes, begging them not to fall for the sake of his brothers sanity,

Donnie numbly lifted an arm, grabbing a fist full of coat, his heart picking up speed as his younger brother didn’t respond to his vigorous shakes, 

“Mikey?” He squeaked, tears running down his cheeks as he saw his blonde haired brother slumped in his seat, face pressed up against the ground from where the car lay on its side.

“MIKEY” Donnie yelled and Leo saw Raph flinch,  
Donnie screamed, over and over again, desperately, his voice cracking as he used up every inch of energy he had in him, his chest heaving every time his little brothers name escaped his lips, now in an utter panic.

Leo did his best to calm him brother down, but if fell on deaf ears, as his brother screaming Michelangelo’s name over and over again, yet there was no response.  
Then Leo heard the faint wail of sirens, drawing closer and closer, slowing drowning out the pained, panicked cries from Donnie.

And just like the night their mother, Tang Shen, died, it was one huge blur to Leo, being pulled from the wreckage, unable to help Donnie as he desperately screamed the same name over and over again, that it was ringing in his ears.  
He watched from his stretched as Raph was numbly guided from the car to the back of the ambulance to get stitched up.  
And it wasn’t until the paramedics began to push the stretched into the ambulance that Leo was able to see the whole thing. The way the car was crumpled in places, the glass that littered the street and shone in the moonlight, the rain that felt like burning acid on his hot skin. Then his eyes widened, the ten tonne truck, lying sprawled out on the road, small fires from the tires.  
Leo felt a sick bubbling in the pits of his stomach when he had the sudden realisation of what was happening, and as he was wheeled away from the scene and into the ambulance he felt a panic that his brothers weren’t with him, that Donnie and Raph were being tended to in different ambulances.  
But what really made Leo feel sick, a certain sickness that seemed to linger in his blood, was that Michelangelo was still not out of the wreckage, he was trapped in there and Leo had no clue if he was dead or alive.

And there was nothing Leo could do about any of it as he saw the back of the ambulance doors shutting, his brother’s – the only family he had in the entire world, slipping away from view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> So I wrote this chapter a LONG time ago (back in like February or March - something crazy like that) so I've been waiting forever to post this one - but since it was written a long time ago, I have spent pretty much the entire day on and off editing it to *perfection* since this is one of my favourite chapters I wrote, since I have been thinking about it a lot:) So a lot of effort went into this chapter and I really hope you guys can tell :)
> 
> So please leave kudos and comments since they really help and I appreciate them a lot - honestly they are SO motivating :)  
> I'll be posting the next chapter next Friday as usual ;) So see ya then amigos :)
> 
> Thanks,   
> much love!!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> So I'm updating this chapter early because I made a promise to my good friends Katie and Sarr, so this one is for you guys;) bow chicka wow wow
> 
> But you should DEFINATLY check out their fanfictions as well; I shall leave you the links so you can read their incredibly amazing fanfics, so please do enjoy and leave kudos and what not and hope you all have an excellent week!! Much love!!
> 
> Katie: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7483761/Hamato-Michelangelo  
> Sarr: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7081579/lukeyandlou

Donnie sat there, alone, in the X-Ray room, the bumbling of life going on around him whilst he felt like his own had come to a screeching halt. His eyes traced over his arm which was now starting to turn colours of purple and blue’s. He had heard the doctors say it was a small fracture, but Donnie didn’t care about his arm and didn’t care about getting a cast. He just wanted his brothers. He had come here with Raph, after he had gone to get some stitches on his face, Donnie had been left alone, unaware if Leo and Mikey were okay. Or even if Mikey was alive for that matter. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t rid the thought that he could be sitting here on the small chair, absolutely numb, without a baby brother anymore. The thought made his stomach churn as he pleaded with himself to not think like that. But the thumping in his chest was a painful reminder of how scared he was.

After what felt like hours, Donnie was in a small room faced with a doctor who was finishing up his cast, the silence hanging in the air like a rain cloud.

“Where are my brothers?” Donnie hated how weak his voice sounded.

The doctor looked up readjusting his glasses, making them sit comfortably on his nose,

“A nurse will help you out” He replied, focusing his attention back to Donnie’s arm.

Donnie didn’t bother replying back, he knew it would be no good to take out the anger he had on this doctor who was merely just doing his job.  
But as soon as he was ushered out into the waiting room, there was no sign of his brothers, no nurse was able to direct him to any of them, only frightening the teen more. In a hospital full of hundreds of people, rushing by every second, new people with different stories, Donnie had never felt more alone. 

And it was ironic. Because Donnie loved nothing more than a little alone time to himself, shutting himself away from the rest of the world, spending hours on reading, homework or whatever he found to expand his brain for pleasure.  
He would simply pop his earphones in when Mikey was too loud or when Raph and Leo were bickering. And Donnie remembered how he would eye roll when he found himself distracted by his brother’s antics and mutter complaints to himself. But what he wouldn’t give to be with one of them now. The empty feeling as he quietly sat on a chair in the corner of the waiting area, eyes flickering to each door surrounding the room, silently praying that at least one of his brother’s was going to walk through the door, and be fine. 

An hour passed, before Donnie felt his eyelids get heavy, he hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last few days and he was running low on adrenaline and had no money on him to grab a coffee. He had no money, no phone, no nothing but himself, as he patiently waited for someone to join him.  
But as he sat there, drifting off to a needy sleep, his brain flashed of the accident. How it seemed to go in slow motion. Seeing the truck, feeling the impact. And then the aftermath… Mikey. Being so still, too still. The panic started to bubble again as Donnie remembered the images of his little brother’s body, slumped in his seat, motionless.  
Donnie felt a lump in his throat as it seemed to replay over and over in his head like a bad dream.

The truck had directly hit Mikey.

He remembered it so clearly, though at the time it seemed to be a blur, spinning out of control.  
The truck had hit the back end of the car, right where Mikey had sat, causing the car to drastically spin and flip out of Leo’s control.

Donnie traced his fingers over his new cast, a dark purple colour which had wrapped around his wrist.  
He stared down at his arm, only now taking in his injuries, seeing how lucky he was. And it all could have been different if he had sat in that seat. If Donnie had sat on the left hand side of the car. Maybe Mikey would have been the one to be luckily enough to get away with just a fractured wrist, not laying in a hospital somewhere, or worse.

Donnie looked at the clock.  
It was late. And there were no nurses or brothers, and the longer he waited, the longer he felt sick with anticipation.  
And just as tears began bubbling behind his eyes, he heard a striking voice call out his name,

“Donnie?”  
The teen immediately looked up, his face relaxing, tears still threatening to fall, when he saw a very, pale looking Raphael in the doorway,

“Oh God, Raph” Donnie said, his voice cracking as he stood up to greet his brother, legs wobbling slightly.

Raph’s face was a mixture of fear and relief as he found himself wrapping his arms around his brother crushing him in a bear hug.

“Ow” Donnie winced and almost a second later Raph retracted, eyes wide as he examined his brother, scanning him almost,

“Are you hurt?” He spoke, his green eyes staring deep into Donnie’s.

The taller teen held up his arm, revealing his purple cast to which Raph relaxed slightly,  
“Just a fracture Raph, I’ll be fine” Donnie managed to smile, to which Raph weakly mirrored back.

“Where’s Leo and Mikey, are they okay” Donnie suddenly remembered, his heart picking up speed.

“Yeah, Leo’s fine, just a bad case of whiplash and a few stitches” Raph said, running a hand through his hair,

Donnie felt his shoulders ease up slightly, unaware of how tense he had really been,

“And Mikey?” Donnie asked, hopeful,

Donnie saw Raph’s small smile disappear as his eyes began to trace over Donnie’s arm, unable to look him in the eyes,

“And Mikey?” Donnie spoke again, this time more harsher, more scared,

Raph cleared his throat and looked back up at Donnie,  
“Yeah, that why I came to get ya” His voice was barely a whisper, almost as if he didn’t trust his own voice to speak anymore without it cracking completely. 

Donnie was numbly led by Raph, his grip tight on his wrist, as if some sort of sad excuse for comfort as they walked down the slim cold corridors. Donnie took in his surroundings, taking deep breaths, almost as if he was breathing in the hospital. He felt a cold shudder run down his spine. For as long as he could remember, he had always wanted to be a Doctor. He loved the idea of busing around and fixing up people, he found it fascinating that he could have a type of job that was interesting and fun to him and he knew that if he worked hard at school, he would defiantly be living his dream. But as he was guided by a silent Raph, he couldn’t help but feel negativity to the idea of being a doctor, the stress, the pain, and the broken families. He had no idea if he could deal with all of that, and that scared him.

Soon they came to a door and Raph flashed a sad smile, an attempt to reassure his brother, but both knew that it wasn’t working for either of them.  
Raph opened the door with a creak and Donnie followed slowly after.

The room was small and white, the small sound of beeping from various machines. The window was covered with a beige curtain, not that there was nothing to see, it was dark out.  
Then Donnie’s eyes fell on the bed on the centre of the room, it seemed so big, with Mikey peacefully sleeping in it, almost buried in blankets and pillows. And it would have been cute if it wasn’t for the two huge cast on his legs and the breathing tubes and wires that were hooked up to his sleeping brother.  
Donnie felt his heart sink in his chest like a rock when he saw the small, slow, rise and fall of his freckled brother’s chest as it matched the sound of the steady beeps that seemed to echo on forever.  
His eyes widened at the bandage that was wrapped carefully around his head.  
Then there was Leo who was sat in a chair by his side, his hand over Mikey’s, his thumb smoothly rubbing his brother’s small hand.  
His eyes were bloodshot and Donnie cringed at the thought of Leo crying, although Donnie felt like balling his eyes out too and the sight of his happy go lucky brother on the brink of death,

“Leo” Raph spoke, his voice sounded raw and tired,

Leo looked over to see his two brothers in the room and Leo almost smiled,  
“Don, you okay?” He asked, getting up to bring the teen into a hug, and Donnie buried his face into Leo’s neck, hoping that everything would disappear.

“Yeah I’m fine” Donnie answered as he pulled out of the hug, his eyes quickly darting to Mikey as he gently rest his hand on his small shoulder,

“Is he okay” Donnie asked shyly, his eyes flickering between Raph and Leo,

“He’s okay Don” Raph spoke, holding out a hand to comfort Donnie but he flinched,

“What’s wrong with him” He spoke, a little louder this time,

There was a silence as Raph shuffled his feet slightly and Leo cleared his throat.

“Do you know what a Diffuse Axonal Injury is Donnie?” Leo asked, looking up, his eyes gleaming with tears,

Donnie simply shook his head, he had no idea, and even if he did, he was in no mood to talk science.  
Leo breathed before speaking again, his tone was dark, angry even,

“It’s when the tissues of the brain slide over each other” He paused, looking down at his feet,

He continued, his voice seemed to unstable to carry on but he sucked in a breath and opened his mouth,

“So basically the cells, they… they, well, they start to…” His breath hitched as he flashed a glance at Raph, a pleading look,  
Raph nodded as Leo lowered his head,

“They start to die” Raph said slowly, painfully slowly.  
Donnie gasped, slapping a hand to his mouth as he choked out a sob, he knew what that means,

“He’s gonna die?!” Donnie cried, tears freely running over his skin, 

He heard a small whimper from Leo, his attention turned back to Raph,

“No Donnie, he aint dyin” He said, almost like his old self would sound, but there was still a ting of sadness and hurt in his voice,

“He’s in some sort of coma state for now, the damage done to his brain depends” He ruffled his own hair as he blew out a huff of air, some sort of way to prevent tears from spilling,

“Depends on what” Donnie asked and he hated how desperate his voice sounded in the cold silence of the room,

“Depends on when he wakes up” Raph simply stated as he perched on the end of Mikey’s bed.

Donnie nodded, unable to stop the flow of silent tears, his eyes fixated on his brother who seemed to peaceful and still, just as if he was having a good dream and somehow, just a little bit, it seemed to ease Donnie slightly, but the anxiety and fear was still heavy in his heart. But the rhythmic, steady, long beeps from the machine, it reminded Donatello that his brother was still here and that he wasn’t entirely alone.


	23. Chapter 23

Leo counted they days, it seemed like a good way to pass time, adding up hour and hours of time, to simply fill up the void in his heart where his brother’s presence was absent. He spent hours sitting there in silence, his hand over Mikey’s still one, seconds ticking by, the awful wondering when or if he would wake up. 

Then, after 9 days, four hours, twelve minutes and six seconds, Leo felt the small hand move under his own, the butterfly pulse become stronger as his eyes began to open and Leo felt a warm relief wash over him as he saw them beautifully familiar baby blue eyes looking deep into his.  
After a quick call home where Raph was with Donnie, Leo couldn’t stop smiling at his brother, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he watched his brother groggily re positioning himself, arms too weak to push himself up, which made him resemble Bambi in some way, and Leo though that was adorable.  
And once Raph and Donnie arrived, tears were shed and hugs, mumbling things into each other’s chests as the carefully held their baby brother close to them, not ever wanting to let go.  
The doctors had left to give them some alone time, and Donnie went to go grab a coffee it seemed like everything was almost normal again.

Except the constant nagging in the back of Leo’s head which was screaming Bradford’s name.  
The moment was too beautiful to bring up such a sore subject, and since Mikey hadn’t said anything, Leo left it to his brother intuitive to ignore it and let the moment carry on.

That was until Donnie returned with his coffee and a few muffins for his brothers, to which Mikey’s lit up, his smile wide.

“Geez Donnie, ya drinking that motor oil again?” Raph scrunched up his nose as Donnie lazily rolled his eyes, a smirk forming on his lips,

“That can’t be good for you bro, I can smell it from here” Leo chimed in as Donnie playfully stuck his tongue out,

“Funny, can’t smell it” Mikey mumbled as he picked the wrapper off his muffin, thinking nothing of it, but as the freckled teen took a bite out his muffin he frowned, his eyebrows knitting together,

“What flavour is this D?” He asked, holding up the muffin,

“Double chocolate chip, duh, your favourite” Donnie smiled before biting into his own blueberry muffin,

But Mikey just stared at his muffin, his face frowned in confusion,

“You okay Mikey?” Leo asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, which seemed to jolt the teen out of his stance as he flinched slightly.

Troubled baby blue eyes met worried deep sea blue eyes and Mikey felt his face twist in fear,

“Leo… I can’t taste nothing”

 

Once Leo had called for a doctor and Mikey had been whisked away, through doubles door, the fear that had been building up for a few days had seemed to collapse right onto Leo’s heart.  
The doctor mentioned something about brain damage, right?

Once the CAT scan was done, it seemed that Michelangelo’s sense of smell and taste had been destroyed and was almost impossible to ever get back. And as awful it was, Leo knew that it could have been a lot worse.   
But telling his tiny, scared brother this didn’t make it seem any better. His brother, the food fanatic, would never taste a slice of pizza again, or be able to have the sensation of picking out ridiculous ice cream flavours on a hot summer’s day, he wouldn't be able to smell the scent of cookies baking in the oven or anything like that. And that broke Leo’s heart, watching the tears well up, the frustration and the confusion in his normally warm eyes, but Leo knew that his brother had been extremely lucky, lucky that he wasn’t hurt worse or lucky he wasn’t dead.  
As Mikey lay in his hospital bed, Leo’s hand soothing his forehead, pushing back the blonde curls that seemed to fall over his eyes, Leo spoke up,

“Hey Mike” He said softly

Mikey only grunted some sort of response,

“I know that its hard and that I keep saying it could have been worse but,” He paused, “It really could have been… wanna know why?” Leo said calmly,

Mikey looked at Leo, his eyes swimming in un fallen tears,  
“Why” He asked in a hoarse voice,

“Well, I was waiting for you here and I was so scared” Leo said, looking down at his feet,  
“And they said that, well, from where the truck hit you head on, you were pretty messed up,” His tone was low, as he relieved the memories from that night, “Your legs… They said that they might not be able to save your legs Mike,” Leo said, looking back at his brother who was hanging onto every word, “and I begged them to save you, not to let you die, and they said that because of the injuries you sustained, that the survival rate was pretty low” Leo used the sleeve on his hoodie to wipe the tears that were leaking from his eyes,

Mikey whimpered slightly as the sight of his brother trembling, having to speak of the worst night of his life,  
"They asked me to sign over some of your organs" he paused, "god, I screamed and yelled and kicked up such a fight", his fingers trembled as he drew in a short breath, "because I was so damn scared"

Mikey felt the grip that Leo had on his hand get a little tighter, but he didn’t care,

“I told them not to dare let you die, because you’re so young”  
Leo sobbed silently, tears now rolling down his face and he shook,

“I told them that you were strong, because you are, Mikey. You’re so brave and so strong and if you got this far, then I know that you can keep on going”

The two brothers, the oldest and the youngest were soon a sobbing mess, holding each other in their arms, clinging for comfort as the cried, tears of joy and tears of pain.

Mikey let go and sniffed, a wonky smile creeping onto his lips, 

“I owe you for my legs then huh? And the rest of my organs for that matter” He smiled, making Leo laugh, tears still spilling,

“No way, Mikey, that was all you” Leo winked before playfully nudging him on the shoulder. 

Then after what felt like the most beautiful moment on earth between the bond of two brother’s the moan of the door was heard as a nurse popped her hear round the frame,  
“You have a visitor” She spoke before retreating back into the hallway,

And as Mikey was propping himself up on one elbow, Leo looked to the doorway, he felt his heart drop all the way to his feet as he saw the tall figure that was now looming over the bed. Leo felt himself fly off his chair, sending it crashing to the floor,  
But as Mikey watched the commotion between the man and his brother, his eyes went wide as he realised who this man was, from the colour of his eyes, from the way that there was a light dusting of freckles over his nose and cheeks, the dirty blonde coloured hair - but mostly from his brothers reaction, the way he stood over him protectively. Mikey’s eyes went like pinpricks and the man grinned, flashing his teeth in a grimacing way, 

“Hello, son”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!
> 
> So this chapter required a LOT of research and since I haven't had any first hand experience with this type of brain injury I can only understand the emotion and physical pain from the stories that I read online. I read a piece from a mother and her son had the same type of injury and had the same side effects (loss of taste and smell) - but like I said, I would have no idea on how to handle this type of situation so therefore I can only image how awful it would be, so do forgive me if I had written it wrong - feel free to correct me, I am in no way trying to be insensitive, I want to write this as accurate as possible,
> 
> So hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a comment, kudos or whatever, it really helps and have a great weekend everybody, 
> 
> Much love!!


	24. Chapter 24

The familiar wail of a babies cry made Leo cringe as it continued, sobbing out, echoing out through the apartment.  
Leo squeezed his eyes shut, wanting to forget it, wishing that it would end, and that maybe tonight was different, but as more seconds ticked on, becoming minutes, becoming hours, Leo knew that tonight was no different than any other, much to his dismay. He felt himself swinging his legs over his bed, glancing up to the bunkbed where Raph had one arm draped over the edge of the bed, snoring slightly; Leo tiptoed past Donnie’s bed which was shoved up against the opposite wall.

The door creaked slightly through the dead of the night; Leo felt his heart thump against his chest. He knew he had been told multiple times about this, but Leo couldn’t help what he was doing, it was the brother in him.

As he crept through the slim hallway he reached the room, where the muffled cried erupted for a second as Leo opened the door before quickly shutting it again quickly, slipping into the room.  
In the middle of the room was a crib, the walls were bare apart from the half-finished orange paint that had been painted a year ago, sloppily splashed against the wall half heartedly, That was it, a single light bulb; the room was bare and cold. And empty, apart from the infant, the young life that was crying his little heart out. 

As Leo edged closer to the crib the sobs seemed to turn to muffled whines as Leo peered over, to be met with watercolour eyes, gleaming with tears, chubby cheeks raw from the flow of tears, and soon the sniffles became gurgles as Leo held his one year old brother in his arms, rocking him gently as the infant was fixated on Leo’s face.   
And it was just how Leo had suspected it, the baby wasn’t hungry or didn’t need his diaper changing, he wasn't sick or hurt. The baby was simply lonely, crying out in his small cold room for someone to hold him, for someone to love him, to sooth him with the comforting beat of a heart of someone who wanted to hold him at ridiculous hours of the night, and that person was Leonardo. 

“You’re not alone Michelangelo” Leo whispered, although he was aware that his brother would be unable to understand, but he knew that he could show his love through his actions, and that included getting up at 3am to calm his cries.

Then the sudden pocket of light that burst through the room made Leo turn on his heels. His face staring into his fathers.  
He had dark circles ringed around his eyes that were once lively, but now they were dull and tired.  
His beard was un-trimmed and messy as he stood in the doorway, his expression nothing but coldness as Leo cradled his brother who was now softly moaning.   
Yoshi took about three steps where he was closer to Leo where he picked up Mikey from his grip, startling Leo as the silence seemed to be suffocating him. Leo watched silently as his father placed a squirming Mikey back in his crib, his face turning red, a sign that he was going to burst into tears again.

“Leave him Leonardo” Yoshi spoke, his voice was low and his tone gave shivers down his spine, 

Leo blinked a few times before speaking up,  
“But Father, he’s lonely and scared, he-“ But the eleven year old boy was cut off by a slightly louder voice this time,

“I said leave him!” 

Leo felt himself take a step back from his father, inching closer to where a crying Mikey lay,

“Get out” Yoshi spoke, his tone dull and lifeless.

Leo frowned at the man, feeling slightly protective over Mikey, he gulped a breath, puffing out his chest,  
“No” He said, trying to hide the hurt and fear in his voice,

“Excuse me?” Yoshi asked, his eyes flaming with anger, the light bouncing off of them as he took a step closer, but this time Leo didn’t back away,

“He is my brother. He is scared Father, I won’t let you neglect him like this” He said gritting his teeth, 

Then he frowned, before looking over his shoulder to his sobbing brother,  
“This isn’t what Mother would have wanted”

And Leo swore, for a second, that he saw a glimpse of regret in his father’s fierce brown eyes, for a mere second, but just like that, it was washed away in an instant with anger and hatred,  
And Yoshi leaned in, inches away from Leo’s face, a scowl now present on the face that seemed to have no worries, Leo felt his breath hot on his face as he spoke the familiar words that he had heard many times once Mikey had been born, once Mother had passed, he had heard it every time he had snuck in here to comfort his brother, every time he stood up for his baby brother,

“He is not your brother”

Leo felt fresh tears spring up from his eyes, the burning sensation returning as he tried not to let his Father see him fall down weak,

“Go to bed. Now” Yoshi spoke before turning away, his back now facing him.

Leo took a long stare at Mikey who was squirming on his back, small cried escaping him as Leo walked away past his father, he paused for a second, looking up at his Father. But his eyes were shining, gleaming with tears that were threatening to spill but Leo shook his head, his sympathy for his Father had been long gone. And as Leo walked out, his Father behind him, he heard the click of the door, and Leo felt his heart pummel to the floor.

He only locked Mikey in when things got really bad. 

Leo watched as his Father slowly walked back to his room, the darkness engulfing him, and he sighed, the wails becoming increasingly lounder even though they were muffled behind the door. And as Yoshi shut his own bedroom door, Leo felt his legs go weak as he slid down the door frame, muffling his sobs by burring his head into the crook of his elbow, crying silently, because whatever this life was, a cruel twist of fate where they had lost their mother, Leo began to realise that they hadn’t just lost her that night, but that they had lost Hamato Yoshi, their father too, and Leo was having doubts if they could ever get him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> So this is yet another flashback and I hope that this story is making sense so far lol :)
> 
> So please leave kudos and comments or whatever since they really help!
> 
> ALSO after popular demand, I am going to TRY to finish Sacrifice since so many people wanted me to finish it, so I might write up the next two chapters and at least try to finish and post it but please do be patient :')
> 
> Have a great weekend everyone, 
> 
> Much love!!


	25. Chapter 25

Mikey felt his fingers curl around the white sheets of the hospital bed, his heart thumping slightly, the blood gushing through his spinning head as the figure loomed over him, Leo standing protectively in front of him, but his older brother, looked like nothing compared to this guy.

Then the man spoke, his voice was low and husky, yet it send a shiver down the boys spine,  
“Hello, son”

He flashed a grin, his teeth baring like some sort of dog and Mikey shifted uncomfortably in his bed, inwardly hissing from the pain from the sudden movement, but the freckled teen knew that even if he tried to somehow run off again, he was being held back from the huge cast on his leg.

“Get out of here” Leo spat, and Mikey saw a flash of pure anger in his oldest brother eyes,

“I have a right to be here” Bradford shuffled his feet, throwing his weight onto one hip, before his eyes flickered over Mikey,  
“He’s my son” He smirked seeing the reaction physically in Leo who now had his chest puffed out, his eyes screaming with rage, his face twisted in hurt and confusion and mostly anger.

“You have no right” Leo spoke back, taking a step towards the man who had the same smirk plastered on his face.

“Let me just speak to the boy” Bradford said, a smirk creeping its way onto his lips, just knowing that his every moment, every word was crawling under Leo's skin,

“No way” Leo said, his voice was quiet but it send sparks of fear in the room, something deadly, and Mikey felt like a turtle, burying himself deeper into the blankets as if it were a shell.

Bradford let out a sigh, now standing up straight, his face inches away from Leo’s his eyes staring straight into his.

“Don’t you worry Leonardo, I’ll soon have it sorted” He said his breath hot on Leos face as he turned away.

But he paused as he reached for the door,

“Michelangelo, I’m sure we shall meet again soon. I’m long due some quality time”

And like that he slithered out of the hospital room, Leo still in his spot, his chest heaving with every breath his suck in and Mikey still sinking lower and lower into the bed, hoping to disappear.

“Leo?” He asked, his voice slightly muffled.  
The older boy turned around, his expression immediately melting, his face relaxing and his eyes seemed to be now just the remains of a fire,

“That was him wasn’t it, my da-“ But Leo cut him off, frowning but not at his smaller brother,

“Don’t ever call him that Mikey” He whispered but there was hurt in his voice,

“Okay” Mikey spoke softly, his voice was quiet and he nuzzled into the blankets, shutting his eyes, hoping that if he fell asleep he could forget about everything and never have to face any of it. 

But the reassuring hand over his made the baby blued eye boy remember the death grip he had on the sheets and as Leo soothingly rubbed his thumb over his small hand, Mikey felt his grip loosen, along with the rest of his body, unaware of how tense he really was.  
Leo picked up the wooden chair that was sprawled on the floor and sat on it, edging closer to the smaller boy.

There was a few breaths of silence before Leo cleared his throat,  
“Mikey we need to talk” His sad eyes met Mikey’s,

“Yeah, I figured” Mikey half heartily laughed back, but he didn’t feel like laughing, if anything he felt like curling up into a ball and disappearing. 

“Look, Mikey back then - the night of the accident, I don’t know what you heard” Leo said, his eye meeting Mikey’s.

The younger boy felt a swirl of emotions in the pit of his stomach as he watched Leo force the words from himself, 

“But you need to hear me out. Okay” And like that, Leo’s voice had changed, more steady, almost as if he had prepared this speech the whole of his life and he was finally saying it out loud, so Mikey simply gave a nod, the swirling pain in his stomach bubbling like a storm, but he knew he had to be strong. He didn’t really have a choice.

“So yes, Chris Bradford is your father Mikey” Leonardo’s hand gently squeezing the smaller one underneath his.

Mikey gulped. He knew that already, about the whole father situation, but hearing it once again was like reopening a wound, painful.  
Mikey nodded for Leo to continue.  
“So I better start from the beginning huh?” Leo tried to laugh but it came out strained, he was evidently tired, so Mikey squeezed his hand back in reassurance.

Soon a conversation erupted between the two - mostly Leo talking and Mikey listening, hanging onto every word, his big blue eyes widening in anticipation, soaking up all this new information like a sponge and recoiling when hearing the itty gritty parts of the story, watching the tears fall from his older brother, letting his own spill - and after the hugs were shared and tears shed, Mikey pulled away, his face pulling into a frown, fresh tears brimming in them baby blue orbs, 

“God, what a sicko” he yelled, tears running miserably down his freckled cheeks before rubbing a knuckle to get rid of them,

“Yeah, tell me about it” Leo huffed,

And then Mikey frowned,  
“How long have you known this?” Mikey asked, frowning, his voice deep,

Leo swallowed and repositioned himself on the chair, making no noise.

“Leo” Mikey spoke again, hurt now evident in his voice. 

“Mikey” Leo pleaded, 

“No Leo, tell me. How long have you known this?” 

“Mikey” Leo spoke again, but before either of them could speak, the door swung wide open, Raph in the frame, soaking wet, panting slightly as his chest heaved up and down, his red shirt sticking to his skin as water droplets made their way down from his hair off the end of his nose.

“Leo” He spoke, his voice was uneven,

The said boy stood up, concern written all over his face,

“Leo, it’s Donnie, he’s run off” Raph said, a tint of worry in his voice,

Leo suddenly made a move to the door, Raph was already down the hallway when Leo stopped in the doorway, turning back around to see Mikey,  
“I’ll be back later. We need to finish this talk”

And all Mikey could do was nod as he watched his older brother dart out the room as he was left in silence, the only sound was the humming of machines around him and the sound of rain that was showering the city.

He turned his head to the right to look out the window, it was getting dark.  
The swirling sensation in his tummy returned he felt nauseated but he felt so empty at the same time.

Wherever Donnie was, he just wished he was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!
> 
> So this chapter was in dire need of editing since I roughly wrote this chapter a while back and coming back to it today made me realise how much I don't like it haha, so I edited it and I took out a LOT of unnecessary dialogue, so I apologise if this chapter is relatively shorter than the others, but the rest should be quite lengthy :)
> 
> But I saw the new TMNT 2 movie yesterday and I loved it so expect some new fanfiction pretty soon ;)
> 
> But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and left some kudos and comments and whatnot, since I really appreciate them:)  
> Have a great weekened,  
> Much love !!


	26. Chapter 26

Raph grabbed the money from his pocket and handed the loose change to the cashier, smiling a silent thank you before striding across the hospital cafeteria to where Donnie was sat, twiddling his thumbs, lost in though.  
Raph heavily let his body drop into the opposite, startling the younger brother, breaking him out of his trance,

“Got ya a sandwich” He stated, sliding the sandwich which was still in its box across the small round table in front of Donnie. 

The tall teen scrunched up his nose in disgust,

“Okay first of all, I said I wasn’t hungry” The gap toothed teen rolled his eyes,

“Don’t care, you gotta have something’ Don” Raph shrugged, ripping over a packet of chips,

Donnie huffed in annoyance,  
“And secondly, how the hell do you eat this garbage?” Donnie stuck his tongue out childishly,

Raph replied, his mouth full of chips,  
“When you’re hungry, you’re hungry” He said sternly before scooping up another handful of chips in his paws and shoved them into his mouth, chewing them.

Donnie felt slightly nauseated at the sight, but he couldn’t help ignore the rumbling in his stomach and the bitter taste that was lingering in his mouth.  
He opened the boxing that contained the sandwich but merely prodded it with a finger before speaking,  
“Hey, Raph?” Donnie cringed at how awfully worried his voice sounded, and by the look of his brother face, he had noticed it too, 

Raph swallowed the mouthful of chips in his mouth,  
“What’s up?” He leaned forward,

Donnie sighed, trying to find the sting of words that seemed to knot up in his throat,  
“Do you think that… that, well, that Mikey is going to have to go live with Bradford?” He managed to splutter out.

After a second Raph fell back in his seat,  
“No way Donnie, no way in burning hell is our baby brother being sent away to a guy like him. No way” 

Donnie noticed the change in his brother’s tone, how it got increasingly darker, how his face had twisted into a scowl and how he was now glaring.   
“Yeah, sure” Donnie said quietly. 

“So you gonna eat that or what” Raph broke the silence, pointing to the untouched sandwich.

Donnie’s brown eyes looked at the lunch then back at his brother,  
“No” He said pushing the sandwich away.

But a strong hand lying on his arm stopped him.  
Raph’s piercing green eyes were shining with sympathy and care,  
“You gotta eat Donnie” He spoke, his voice was gentle and rumbling, like a peaceful storm.

“I said I’m not hungry Raph” Donnie frowned, flicking the sandwich away,

Raph breathed through his nose, frowning sadly,  
“Is this because of what happened, to Mikey?” Raphael spoke, his hand still on Donnie’s forearm.

There was a pause between the brothers and the conversation went quiet, apart from the bustle of the hospital around them.   
Raph watched as his brother tore his eyes away, he knew what he was doing, how he would make that face when something troubled him, as the clogs in his genius brain would work. 

“If I had been in that seat Raph” He finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and quiet and it made Raph cringe at how raw he sounded.  
Donnie picked at his cast on his arm, a reminder of how he was fine, and how his little brother wasn’t.

“Don-“ Raph protested, but he was interrupted, 

“If maybe I had given him an extra pill for his headache then maybe he wouldn’t have woken up, wouldn’t have overheard us, wouldn’t be stuck here” Donnie said, his tone growing more fierce, his face growing into a grimace,  
Donnie pulled his arm away from under Raph’s hand, making the older brother flinch slightly,

“God Raph, this is so messed up, and I can’t fix it” He said, his eyes reflecting more light than they should be.

“Donnie listen-“ Raph said, trying to get through to his rambling brother,

“No Raph you listen, Bradford is gonna get his way, Mikey’s gonna be gone, it cannot be fixed!” This time Donnie was near to yelling, his chest puffing out in anger.

“Donnie listen to me” Raph spoke again but Donnie jumped up from his seat, the sound of chair scraping against floor, causing Raph to cringe slightly,

“YOU LISTEN TO ME RAPHAEL I CANT FIX THIS, I COULDN’T FIX MIKEY BACK IN THE ACCIDENT, I COULDN’T FIX HIS BRAIN DAMAGE AND I CANT FIX THIS FUCKING BRADFORD MESS EITHER”   
Donnie now had tears dribbling down his face which was flushing red, his hands were balled into fists by his sides, he felt eyes burning on him from the full attention of the now full cafeteria but he didn’t care, he had Raph’s attention who was staring at him with those fierce green eyes, his mouth slightly agape.

“Donnie” Raph said again, pleading now, something that the tall teen had never seen from his older brother.

Then Donnie smiled, but it seemed ironic, the pain still evident on his face, his tall frame shaking, in rage or exhaustion, Raph didn’t know but Donnie’s weak voice spoke out one more time, and it sounded raw and tired, 

“How the hell can a mess like me, fix anything” 

And just like that Donnie turned on his heels, dashing out of the cafeteria as Raph stood up, his own chair now shattering against the floor with enough force to cause people to jump slightly, and Raph was soon after him, 

“DONNIE WAIT” Raph yelled running after his sobbing brother.

And it felt so familiar, running after a crying younger brother, and as he was out of those double doors and the wind and rain stung his skin and Donnie seemed to grow further and further away from him, Raph couldn’t help but remember the night, that he chased Mikey, how awful that night was, and as the rain socked his body, he felt his t-shirt sticking to his skin and he drew in shot breaths as the sun seemed to dip under the horizon, he remembered what had happened last time, with Mikey and he wasn’t sure his shaky legs would allow him to move anymore. He was full out of ideas, ideas to keep his tiny broken family together, it seemed like it was ripping apart so quickly. He had no idea what he was doing anymore. As he stood in the cold of the rain, he knew he had to do one thing as he returned back to the inside of the hospital, the last person who had some sort of leg to stand on, someone who had been holding it all together since the beginning. Leo.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please read the end note its pretty important, thanks

Donnie didn’t have the slightest clue where the hell he was going, but he knew what he was doing was stupid. What happened last time a brother had run off in a rage? No, he couldn’t blame Mikey, he needed an outlet for this uncharacteristic anger, and the one person he wanted to hurt was Bradford. Either that or himself. And since Bradford wasn’t at the receiving end of his clenched fist, running out in the freezing rain seemed good enough punishment for himself.   
The night Mikey ran out, slipping past his brother, tears flying from his face, Donnie watched Raphael speed after him, and the taller teen didn’t understand why his younger brother would want to run off like that, not understanding the weird comfort running gave him. And now here he was, in the same position his little brother was a few weeks, running off crying in the rain, mind fogged by the sheer pain and hurt. And it was all because of Chris Bradford.

Once the gap toothed teen reached the other side of the parking lot he stood for a while, unaware of what he was going to do next, his heart breaking against his chest, the blood pumping heavily around his shaking body.  
He blinked away the mixture of hot tears and cooling rain from his eyes, standing numbly, unable to move, watching the world go by as his stopped.  
People glared strange looks as he stood there, allowing himself to be soaked as he sobbed quietly, but he didn’t care.   
The blare of a horn made the teen almost jump out of skin, clutching a hand above his heart instinctively as he whipped around to see some sort of trucker yelling for him to move.

Donnie couldn’t stay here, he was in the way. Again. He was just useless. Nothing.

The teen felt his legs move numbly as he walked towards the sidewalk, the rain still hammering him, his wet clothes sticking to his cold body.  
He lent his back against the brick wall behind him, the feeling of the hard surface made him flinch but he still stayed there.  
The sound of rumbling in the distance of the grey skies indicated to the teen that there was most defiantly a storm brewing and it seemed to be ironic almost.   
The teen looked up at the sky and for the first time in his short life, he wondered if perhaps his Mother was watching him. Watching him suffer, watching them all suffer.

He didn’t believe in God or Heaven, not like Leo who he remembered reassuring their small family that their Mother was always watching over them, protecting them.  
But Donnie never once believed it, because if there was a God, then why the hell did he never help them out once? Why was his family constantly suffering? It wasn’t fair. His eyes darted across the darkening sky, and he wondered. That’s what he was good at, he could spend hours getting lost in his own thoughts about different possibilities. But that was science, reactions and theroies. Never the question on whether there was some sort of Heaven.  
He remembered an argument he once had with Mikey, something about Angels. How Mikey believed that their Mother was some sort of Angel, like a guardian, protecting them and watching them. He remembered how he had simply shot him down, telling him that when you die, you die. How his freckled face crumpled, yelling, “You’re wrong!” as his little legs carried him out of the small bedroom.

Donnie mentally kicked himself for how he had behaved. How he had spoiled the only thing he could have of his mother, since he had no memories. He had one thing and Donnie destroyed it. He was supposed to fix things and yet he was constantly breaking their family. Pushing the boundaries with the hopes of going to the Science College, fully knowing that they couldn’t afford it, but arguing the point anyway. Refusing to come out of his room, not wanting to participate. All these little things he had done, he had no idea but they were adding to the damage. How could he have been so stupid? He was just nothing. If he couldn’t fix it then what was it he was doing? There was no way he could even begin to understand the Bradford problem, yet alone to try and make it better. If Leo had already given up even before the get go, then that was it. It was over and he had no idea how to fix it, not for Leo, for Raph, for Mikey. Heck, he couldn’t even fix himself at times. He was a mess, and running off like a crazed lunatic was only adding to more of the stress, making the teen curse under his breath at himself.

Donnie rarely gave up, if there was a test question he didn’t understand, he would spend hours, figuring it out, wanting to solve it, feeling under relieved if he simply left it. He was getting that same feeling now, thinking about Mikey, a storm of, ‘what-ifs’ and ‘whys’ brewing in the depths of his brilliant mind.   
He wanted to figure it all out so desperately, he wanted to do it for his brothers, but he didn’t know why he couldn’t, like something was holding him back and that was what angered him the most.

He could at least try but he didn’t know where to start.

And maybe it was because he was scared. Of course he was scared. He was on the brink of losing his only little brother, he should have some sort of motivation, right? Then why did he have no? Why did he feel so emotionally drained, this wasn’t about him, it was about and for Mikey. He couldn’t sit here forever and cry, but for some reason it seemed rather more appealing than facing whatever cruel disgusting reality that was waiting for him behind the double doors he could see in the foggy distance.   
The rain seemed to become numb on his skin, the stinging sensation was long gone.  
He hadn’t even realised how deep was in thought when he startled, a steady hand on his shaking shoulder.

“Donnie?” A voice spoke, but it sounded blurry in his head, the teen blinked, turning his head to see who the voice belonged to,

“Donnie, focus on me okay, just focus on me and nothing else” The voice spoke again, and this time is was warm, and as Donnie focused on the voice, his vision still hazy, his mind seemed to come back to him, his surroundings more evident, his feelings and senses returning to him.

He blinked to see that the voice had belonged to Leonardo, who had his hand gently gripped on his arm, guiding him. 

“Donnie, it’s okay” Leo soothed, his voice was calming and relaxed, “It’s okay” The older boy repeated, over and over again, and the more Leo said it, the more Donatello seemed to come more into focus. 

“Leo?” He spoke, his voice didn’t sound like his usual voice or tone, 

“Yeah I’m right here buddy” Leo spoke, now using his free hand to push the double doors open, shielding them both from the hammering rain. 

And soon he was looking into the face of his two older brothers, their faces plastered with worry.

“Leo, Raph…” The tall teen started but was stopped as he was engulfed into a warm embrace, a tangle of arms wrapping themselves around his shaky body, burying their heads in the crook of his neck.

Donnie didn’t know what to do, so he stood there, sniffing miserable tears back,  
“I’m sorry guys” He said, whispering, lowering his head,

Leo pulled off, his strong hands resting on the younger boys shoulder,  
“Don’t you dare be sorry Donnie” He spoke his blue eyes flaming with concern,

“Don’t blame yourself either, that’s Fearless’ job” Raph smirked, using an elbow to playful nudge his older brother before he used a hand to teasingly swat it away.

Donnie couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit,

“If anyone is to blame, we know who it is” Leo spoke, his tone consisting a tinge of annoyance at the thought.

“Leo is right, it’s that ass-“ Raph received a sideward glance from his older brother before continuing, “Assholes fault, all of it” Raph said, his hand on Donnie’s slim shoulder,

The said teen smiled at his two older brothers, he felt his heart swell a tiny bit, but the looming cloud like feeling of the whole situation seemed to suddenly throw itself onto him, hitting hard as he felt his small smile being tugged into a frown.

Leo must have noticed this as he gave his shoulder a small squeeze.  
“Besides” He said, his ocean blue eyes flickering between Donnie and Raph, who seemed equally confused, “I have a plan” He smirked, looking confident this time, which felt like the first time either of them had seen him like this,

“You do?” Raph asked bewildered,

Leo simple nodded, leaving his brothers in anticipation as the leaned in closer,  
“I know someone who can help us, it’s going to be a bit of journey, but I’m sure he can” Leo smiled, looking hopeful,

“Who can Leo?” Raph asked, confused still but the annoyance lingering in his tone.

There was a small silence before Leo opened his mouth,  
“Dad”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be a real sucky end note but I gotta say it: this fanfiction is going on hiatus.
> 
> I started this story way back in December, and back then I had no real idea of where this story was going, and I still don't. This fanfiction is becoming more of a chore for me rather than actually enjoying it like I should be.
> 
> I have started writing a new human au - 'Blue Sky', and in all honesty, i prefer that one waaay more than Keeper.
> 
> This fanfiction has came a long way, and I have two options: to completely orphan it or to try and wrap it up pretty quickly and in the simplest way possible - but like I said, don't expect any updates any time soon because I need to change a lot of things and try and sort this mess of a fanfic out, I don't know when the motivation for this story will return so sorry about that, 
> 
> I hope you all understand - I will be writing various one shots still and will be updating Blue Sky randomly, but I hope you all understand.
> 
> I also have a tumblr: "angelmichaelangelo" - and I will be taking prompts and requests and stuff if you want, since that would be cool;)
> 
> Thanks, have a great weekend -   
> Much love!!


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for katie - happy birthday angelcakes <3

Leo’s leg bounced in anticipation and the anxiety that jolted his body into constantly moving made him even more nervous as the phone continued to ring out, buzzing through his head like a siren, and he had to use every inch of willpower to control himself from hanging up before he’d even given him a chance.

All these years and the same scrap of paper that had his father’s number on it, sat in an old box, crumpled and pathetic, just how Leo had seen the gesture those many years ago, but now it was a tiny glimmer of hope, and he had to hold on if it meant saving his brother.   
All these years and he would’ve been lying if he said he had never found himself rummaging around for that number, crazed and desperate, before finding it, and putting it back again – too afraid, too scared. 

But now he had punched the numbers into his phone, and clicked dial with shaky fingers, and as the ringer went on, he was determined to not go back now.

And as the line clicked and an old voice spoke, Leo felt his heart fly into his throat, stopping the air from reaching his lips, before swallowing thickly,

“Hello?” The voice spoke, and it was soft and gently just as he had remembered, and the boy felt fresh unexpected tears spring to his eyes, as the words were still caught in his throat, 

“Hello?” The voice asked again, twice as patient and Leo closed his eyes and sucked in a breath,

“Dad” He spoke, and his voice was weak and small, not how he had imagined it, and the line went silent for a second, and Leo wondered what his father was thinking in this exact moment,

“Leonardo?” He said, unsure, like standing on the edge of a cliff, thrilled and still scared, and the boy sniffed back tears,

“Yes, it’s me” Leo smiled, and realised that even though his father couldn’t see him, maybe he could feel it, because he always had that type of intuition, the kind that amazed Leo.

He heard his father breath through the phone, relieved, like he had been holding his breath all these years, wating by the phone for a miracle, and now it had just came, “My son, oh, my son” His voice was watery and Leo tried to picture his father, how he would look now, aged and bearded, hand over his chest in joy, that his son finally called him. And Leo feels a weird sort of happy feeling in his chest, one that’s heavy yet beautiful and refreshing.

“Father, I need your help” Leo says quietly, and he holds his breath, waiting for a response,

“Anything for you my son” He replies, breathless and filled with love, desperate for redemption, the only kind that Leo can give him,

“It’s Michelangelo – Bradford is back” Leo says in one breath, clutching the phone so tight his knuckles turn white, ready for the slightest of reactions from his father, and without even thinking his thumb brushes over the hang up button, in fear of the worst.

But instead of his father hanging up, or shouting abuse, or abandoning him, again, he sighs sadly,

“Like I said, anything for my sons”

That’s what cause the tears to spill over and roll down his face, and he uses the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe them away quickly, and nods before saying,

“Thank you father”

The two talk for a while, and it’s still awkward and small talk, little by little gaining trust, like building a bridge brick by brick, but they soon as talking like they’ve never been apart, and Leo has never realised how much he missed this until now, and his chest swells with a familiar feeling of family and love, like he’s whole again, and they exchange details and information, and Leo is giddy with smiles when his father explains that he’s booked a flight from Japan to New York to support him, and its like letting out a breath for a really long time.

Leo can feel the air rush back into his lungs and his body doesn’t seem so heavy anymore, now that he has an extra two feet to stand on. His entire life he’s had to do it alone, but he has someone now, someone he always had, but just never was brave enough to figure differences out with. 

And he’s glad he has, and as he ends the call and he sees that over two hours have passed he smiles, because even though his tiny world had been falling apart around him, it was being built back up, with the help of his father, helping hands to help mend the cracks and breaks in what he’d created by himself – there was no wrong in that, because his father would do something, and he would help fix this, he would help Mikey, and Raph and Donnie and Leo and maybe even help himself – and even his mother. 

Leo flopped onto his bed, ready for the night to come and encase him in sleep, maybe the first peaceful sleep in months, because even though nothing was fixed yet, there was still cracks and fallen pieces, at least now he had a plan; a plan he intended on keeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zoo wee mama, I'm not expecting anybody to still be here, but after 6 months of not even going near this almost dead fan fiction i decided that for a certain someone's birthday i would - so i worked all night and all day to produce this mediocre piece, and I'm going to /try/ and write some more for it, so its not left on a cliffhanger :) anyways i hope that someone is still waiting for this story to be updated lol and that someone will read it, and if you did please leave a kudos and a comment, tell your friends.
> 
> please I'm desperate.
> 
>  
> 
> happy birthday katie, i hope you like this, wish i was with you to celebrate your birthday, love you so much muffin !! have a wonderful day, love emily x


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